Influence of active and passive equipment for advanced pressurized water reactor on thermal hydraulic and source term behavior in severe accidents

Abstract

Extensive studies have been carried out on the behavior of core degradation and fission products of common pressurized water reactors (PWRs). However, few of them have investigated the relationship between thermal hydraulic and fission product behavior in advanced passive PWRs. Due to the impact of thermal hydraulic behaviors in different accident sequences on the release and transportation of fission products, an integrated severe accident analysis (ISAA) code with highly coupled thermal hydraulic and source term calculations is required to simultaneously analyze thermal hydraulic and source term behavior. For advanced passive PWRs, important safety systems that may affect the behavior of the core and fission products should be considered. It is therefore necessary to simulate the thermal hydraulic and fission product behavior of advanced passive PWRs. In this study, the ISAA code is adopted to simulate the occurrence of a hypothetical double ended cold leg LBLOCA of HPR1000 in three scenarios of equipment failure. The results show that the high-temperature fuel rods and cladding materials exhibit delayed failure at the lower position of the active core, whereas earlier failure at higher position during the reflooding. Active and passive equipment affects fuel temperature, the oxidation conditions of the fuel, the interaction of fission products and structural materials, and the state of the fuel, thereby affecting the release of fission products in the fuel. HPR1000 only relies on passive equipment to relieve the core degradation in severe accidents, realize the in-vessel retention of melt, and eliminate the ex-vessel release possibility of fission product. It is hoped that the results can provide references for HPR1000 to formulate the severe accident management guidelines (SAMG).