Analysis of cold leg LOCA with failed HPSI by means of integrated safety assessment methodology

Abstract

The integrated safety assessment (ISA) methodology, developed by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), has been applied to a thermal–hydraulic analysis of cold leg LOCA sequences with unavailable High Pressure Injection System in a Westinghouse 3-loop PWR. This analysis has been performed with TRACE 5.0 patch 1 code. ISA methodology allows obtaining the Damage Domain (the region of space of parameters where a safety limit is exceeded) as a function of uncertain parameters (break area) and operator actuation times, and provides to the analyst useful information about the impact of these uncertain parameters in safety concerns. In this work two main issues have been analyzed: the effect of reactor coolant pump trip and the available time for beginning of secondary-side depressurization. The main conclusions are that present Emergency Operating Procedures (EOPs) are adequate for managing this kind of sequences and the ISA methodology is able to take into account time delays and parameter uncertainties.