Small break loss of coolant accidents: Bottom and side break

Abstract

A loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in a nuclear reactor can be caused, e.g., by a small break in the primary cooling system. The rate of fluid escaping through such a break will define the time until the core will be uncovered. Therefore the prediction of fluid loss and pressure transient is of major importance to plan for timely action in response to such an event. Stratification of the two phases might be present upstream of the break, thus, the location of the break relative to the vapor-liquid interface and the overall upstream fluid conditions are relevant for the calculation of fluid loss. Experimental results and analyses are presented here for small breaks at the bottom or at the side of a small pressure vessel. It was found that in such a case the onset of the so-called “vapor pull through” is important but swelling at sufficient depressurization rates of the liquid due to flashing is also of significance. It was also discovered that in the bottom break the flow rate is strongly dependent on the break entrance quality of the vapor-liquid mixture. The side break can be treated similarly to the bottom break if the interface level is above the break. The analyses developed on the basis of experimental observations showed reasonable agreement of predicted and measured pressure transients. It was possible to calculate the changing interface level and mixture void fraction history in a way compatible with the behavior observed during the experiments. Even though the experiments were performed at low pressures, this work should help to get a better understanding of physical phenomena occurring in a full scale small break loss of coolant accident.