Preliminary safety analysis of ex-vessel LOCA for the European HCPB TBM system

Abstract

Ex-vessel loss of coolant accident caused by a double-ended pipe break of the helium coolant system inside port cell is considered as one of the most critical accident for the European Helium Cooled Pebble Beds Test Blanket Module (HCPB TBM) system. The resulting rapid helium blow-down causes an immediate block of the TBM cooling, which requires a prompt plasma shutdown. Even after the plasma shutdown the temperature can increase over the design limit and the accident sequence can lead up to a break of the TBM box protection after the failure of different protection systems. Thus air ingresses in the vacuum vessel from the damaged TBM system and steam from the surrounding ITER blanket and divertor structures. The evaluation of this sequence is very important for the definition of the correct protection strategy of the system. To consider all these different events a methodology has been developed in KIT combining different codes for a complete analysis of the accident. In particular, this paper shows an application of MELCOR code to model beryllium–steam reaction in a particular accidental sequence for the long term cooling.