CONDITIONS FOR PREVENTION OF WATER HAMMERS AT START-UP OF EMERGENCY FEED PUMPS WITH A STEAM DRIVER OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

Abstract

A promising approach to accident management in nuclear power plants with a complete loss of long-term power supply is an emergency feed pump with a steam driver from a steam generator. The main advantages of this approach in relation to the known systems of passive heat removal with natural circulation are the fundamental possibility of fully compensating for the failure of design safety systems with electric pumps, as well as the absence of the need to remove the safety system elements to a greater height beyond the containment / container. However, the use of steam driven emergency pumps requires a deep study of their reliability. One such issue is the qualification of reliability when starting an emergency pump with a steam driver. An original method for modeling the conditions for the occurrence of a water hammer when starting a steam-driven pump is proposed. The conditions for the prevention of water hammer due to the inertia of the pressure-flow characteristics of emergency feed pumps with a steam driver from the steam generator are determined. The results obtained can be used in the design of emergency feed pumps with a steam driver from a steam generator subject to additional experimental qualifications.