Optimizing the water chemistry of the Novovoronezh NPP Units 3 and 4 to prevent growth of coolant pressure difference across the reactor

Abstract

For a few fuel campaigns in the first years of their extended service life, the Novovoronezh NPP Units 3 and 4 had to operate with a limited reactor thermal power output due to constraints imposed on certain parameters of the reactor core. The decrease of thermal power output during a campaign was accompanied by a growth of pressure difference across the reactor caused by accumulation of deposits in the fuel assemblies, which in turn led to a growth in the number of leaky fuel rods. Compensating measures were implemented based on the results obtained from the performed investigations and modeling of corrosion product mass transfer processes, which in the final analysis made it possible to minimize the accumulation of deposits in fuel assemblies and loss of fuel rod tightness, and to exclude the need to limit the reactor thermal power as demanded by constraints imposed on the reactor core parameters.