THAI experimental programme for containment safety assessment under severe accident conditions

Abstract

Abstract The THAI (THAI = Thermal hydraulics, Hydrogen, Aerosols, Iodine) experimental programme aims to address open questions concerning the behavior of hydrogen, iodine and aerosols in the containment of water cooled reactors. Since its construction in 2000, THAI programme is being performed in the frame of various national projects (sponsored by German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, BMWi) and two international joint projects (under auspices of OECD/NEA). THAI experimental data have been widely used for the validation and further development of Lumped Parameter (LP) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes with 3D capabilities. Selected examples of code benchmark exercises performed based on the THAI data include; hydrogen distribution experiment (ISP-47 and OECD/NEA THAI code benchmark), hydrogen combustion behaviour (ISP-49), hydrogen mitigation by PARs (OECD/NEA THAI-2 code benchmark), iodine/surface interactions, iodine mass transfer, and iodine transport and multi-compartment behaviour (EU-SARNET and EU-SARNET2), thermal-hydraulic tests (German CFD-network). In the present paper, a brief overview on the THAI experiments and their role in the containment safety assessment is discussed.