A pre-test analysis of ATLAS SBO with RCP seal leakage using MARS code

Abstract

The accident in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants shows the important of developing coping strategies for extended station blackout (SBO) scenarios of the nuclear power plants (NPPs). Many NPPs in United State of America are applying FLEX approach as main coping strategies for extended station blackout (SBO) scenarios. In FLEX strategies, outside water injection to reactor cooling system (RCS) and steam generators (SGs) is considered as an effective method to remove residual heat and maintain the inventory of the systems during the accident. This study presents a pretest calculation using MARS code for the Advanced Thermal-hydraulic Test Loop for Accident Simulation (ATLAS) SBO experiment with RCP seal leakage scenario. In the calculation, the turbinedriven auxiliary feed water pumps (TDAFPs) are firstly used after SBO initiation. Then, the outside cooling water injection method is used for long term cooling. In order to minimize operator actions and satisfy requirements of APR1400 emergency operation procedure (EOP), the SGs Atmospheric Dump Valve (ADV) opening ratio, auxiliary feed water (AFW) and outside cooling water injection flow rates were investigated to have suitable values. The analysis results would be useful for performing the experiment to verify the APR 1400 extended SBO optimum mitigation strategy using outside cooling water injection.