Safety Implementation of Hydrogen Igniters and Recombiners for Nuclear Power Plant Severe Accident Management

Abstract

Hydrogen combustion in a nuclear power plant containment building may threaten the integrity of the containment. Hydrogen recombiners and igniters are two methods to reduce hydrogen levels in containment buildings during severe accidents. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the safety implementation of hydrogen igniters and recombiners. This paper analyzes the risk of deliberate hydrogen ignition and investigates three mitigation measures using igniters only, hydrogen recombiners only or a combination of recombiners and igniters. The results indicate that steam can effectively control the hydrogen flame acceleration and the deflagration-to-detonation transition.