ICONE23-2083 FULL SCALE BWR CONTAINMENT LOCA RESPONSE TEST AT THE INKA TEST FACILITY

Abstract

KERENA is an innovative boiling water reactor concept with passive safety systems (Generation III+) of AREVA. The reactor is an evolutionary design of operating BWRs (Generation II). In order to verify the functionality and performance of the KERENA safety concept required for the transient and accident management, the test facility "Integral Teststand Karlstein" (INKA) was built at Karlstein (Germany). It is a mock-up of the KERENA boiling water reactor containment, with integrated pressure suppression system. The complete chain of passive safety components is available. The passive components and the levels are represented in full scale. The volume scaling of the containment compartments is approximately 1:24. The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is simulated via the steam accumulator of the Karlstein Large Valve Test Facility. This vessel provides an energy storage capacity of approximately 1/6 of the KERENA RPV and is supplied by a Benson boiler with a thermal power of 22 MW. With respect to the available power supply, the containment- and system-sizing of the facility is by far the largest one of its kind worldwide. From 2009 to 2012, several single component tests were conducted (Emergency Condenser, Containment Cooling Condenser, Core Flooding System etc.). On March 21st, 2013, the worldwide first large-scale only passively managed integral accident test of a boiling water reactor was simulated at INKA. The integral test measured the combined response of the KERENA passive safety systems to the postulated initiating event was the "Main Steam Line Break" (MSLB) inside the Containment with decay heat simulation. The results of the performed integral test (MSLB) showed that the passive safety systems alone are capable to bring the plant to stable conditions meeting all required safety targets with sufficient margins. Therefore the test verified the function of those components and the interplay between them as response to an anticipated accident scenario. The test provided evidence that the INKA is worldwide the first large scale test facility to perform integral verification tests of passive safety concepts under plant-like scaling and thermodynamic conditions. Hence, the test facility also shows that it is capable to perform containment response tests for existing Generation II BWRs (with active safety systems) and advanced (passive) reactor designs besides KERENA. These test results can be used to strengthen existing containment codes with regard to heat transfer, natural circulation, gas- and temperature stratification and others.