Investigation of ex-vessel core catcher for SBO accident in VVER-1000/V528 containment using MELCOR code

To mitigate consequences of core melting,an ex-vessel core catcher is investigated in this study.Instructions should be obeyed to cool down the corium caused by core melting.The corium destroys the reactor containment and causes radioactive materials to be released into the environment if it does not cool down well.It is important to build a core catcher system for the reception,localization,and cool down of the molten corium during a severe accident resulting from core melting.In this study,the role of a core catcher in the VVER-1000/v528 reactor containment during a station black out(SBO)accident is evaluated using the MELCOR1.8.6 code.In addition,parametric analyses of the SBO for(i)SBO accidents with emergency core cooling system(ECCS)operation,and(ii)without ECCS operation are performed.Furthermore,thermal–hydraulic analyses in dry and wet cavities with/without water are conducted.The investigations include the reduction of gases resulting from molten–corium–concrete interactions(H_(2),CO,CO_(2)).Core melting,gas production,and the pressure/temperature in the reactor containment are assessed.Additionally,a full investigation pertaining to gas release(H_(2),CO,CO_(2))and the pressure/temperature of the core catcher is performed.Based on MELCOR simulations,a core cavity and a perimeter water channel are the best options for corium cooling and a lower radionuclide release.This simulation is also theoretically investigated and discussed herein.The simulation results show that the core catcher system in addition to an internal sacrificial material reduces the containment pressure from 689 to 580 kPa and the corresponding temperature from 394 to 380 K.Furthermore,it is observed that the amount of gases produced,particularly hydrogen,decreased from 1698 to 1235 kg.Moreover,the presence of supporting systems,including an ECCS with a core catcher,prolonged the core melting time from 16,430 to 28,630 s(in an SBO accident)and significantly decreased the gases produced.

Core designing of a new type of TVS-2M FAs:neutronics and thermal-hydraulics design basis limits

One of the most important aims of this study is to improve the core of the current VVER reactors to achieve more burn-up(or more cycle length)and more intrinsic safety.It is an independent study on the Russian new proposed FAs,called TVS-2M,which would be applied for the future advanced VVERs.Some important aspects of neutronics as well as thermal hydraulics investigations(and analysis)of the new type of Fas are conducted,and results are compared with the standards PWR CDBL.The TVS-2M FA contains gadolinium-oxide which is mixed with UO_(2)(for different Gd densities and U-235 enrichments which are given herein),but the core does not contain BARs.The new type TVS-2M Fas are modeled by the SARCS software package to find the PMAXS format for three states of CZP and HZP as well as HFP,and then the whole core is simulated by the PARCS code to investigate transient conditions.In addition,the WIMS-D5 code is suggested for steady core modeling including TVS-2M FAs and/or TVS FAs.Many neutronics aspects such as the first cycle length(first cycle burn up in terms of MWthd/kgU),the critical concentration of boric acid at the BOC as well as the cycle length,the axial,and radial power peaking factors,differential and integral worthy of the most reactive CPS-CRs,reactivity coefficients of the fuel,moderator,boric acid,and the under-moderation estimation of the core are conducted and benchmarked with the PWR CDBL.Specifically,the burn-up calculations indicate that the 45.6 d increase of the first cycle length(which corresponds to 1.18 MWthd/kgU increase of burnup)is the best improving aim of the new FA type called TVS-2M.Moreover,thermal-hydraulics core design criteria such as MDNBR(based on W3 correlation)and the maximum of fuel and clad temperatures(radially and axially),are investigated,and discussed based on the CDBL.