Procedure of Active Residual Heat Removal after Emergency Shutdown of High-Temperature-Gas-Cooled Reactor

Abstract

After emergency shutdown of high-temperature-gas-cooled reactor, the residual heat of the reactor core should be removed. As the natural circulation process spends too long period of time to be utilized, an active residual heat removal procedure is needed, which makes use of steam generator and start-up loop. During this procedure, the structure of steam generator may suffer cold/heat shock because of the sudden load of coolant or hot helium at the first few minutes. Transient analysis was carried out based on a one-dimensional mathematical model for steam generator and steam pipe of start-up loop to achieve safety and reliability. The results show that steam generator should be discharged and precooled; otherwise, boiling will arise and introduce a cold shock to the boiling tubes and tube sheet when coolant began to circulate prior to the helium. Additionally, in avoiding heat shock caused by the sudden load of helium, the helium circulation should be restricted to start with an extreme low flow rate; meanwhile, the coolant of steam generator (water) should have flow rate as large as possible. Finally, a four-step procedure with precooling process of steam generator was recommended; sensitive study for the main parameters was conducted.