Analysis of Accident Progression of Fukushima Daiichi NPPs With SAMPSON Code

Abstract

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant units 1, 2, and 3 had serious damages due to the huge earthquake and tsunami which occurred on March 11th 2011. Pressure transients in the reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) of the units 1, 2, and 3 were analyzed with the severe accident analysis code, SAMPSON for a few days from the scram until occurrence of depressurization. Since preliminary analysis results with the original SAMPSON showed difference from the measured data, the following phenomena were newly considered in the current analyses. For unit 1: Damage of a source range monitor, which is one of in-core monitors. For unit 2: Part load operation of the reactor core isolation cooling system. For unit 3: Part load operation of the high pressure coolant injection system. The calculation results showed fairly good agreements with the measured pressure data and showed RPV bottom damage for all the units resulting in falling of debris in the core region into the pedestal of the drywell.