Scaling and thermal-hydraulic design of a test loop for the VVER-1000 reactor

Abstract

In this paper, scaling and thermal-hydraulic design of a test loop is carried out for the VVER-1000 reactor. Science and Research Branch Test Loop (SRBTL) is a single-phase integral test facility, and the reference plant for SRBTL is the VVER-1000 reactor. SRBTL is designed to model the thermal-hydraulic behaviors of the reactor and primary circuit of the VVER-1000 reactor. Whereas, transient and accident conditions in SRBTL can be simulated without risk of release of radioactive material into the environment, the study of fluid flow in SRBTL is very important. Furthermore, thermal-hydraulic codes can be improved or designed with the help of SRBTL experimental data. For these purposes, scaling and thermal-hydraulic design of SRBTL is accomplished, and the sizes of equipment and pipelines and also thermal-hydraulic parameters of SRBTL are reduced in comparison with the same cases in the VVER-1000 reactor. SRBTL is designed as a reduced-height, reduced-pressure and reduced-temperature integral test facility. Energy Scaling Methodology (ESM) is clarified, modified and used to scale the coolant mass inventory and the thermal power for reduced-pressure and reduced-temperature conditions. The results of scaling computations with Modified Energy Scaling Methodology (MESM) are inserted in RELAP5/MOD3.2 and validated with experimental data of the VVER-1000 reactor. A comparison between the experimental data of the VVER-1000 reactor and SRBTL simulation results showed reasonable variations of the important parameters.