The Analytical and Experimental Research of In-Vessel Corium Retention in CPR1000

Abstract

The analytical and experiment research of In-Vessel Corium Retention (IVR) in the Chinese Pressurized-water Reactor 1000 MWe (CPR1000) are introduced. The IVR research consists of preliminary phase and detailed phase. The analysis of thermal failure, structural failure and penetration failure of Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) and the experimental research of External Reactor Vessel Cooling (ERVC) are performed at preliminary phase. Analysis results show that the RPV failure is the dominated by thermal failure mode and the probability of the thermal failure is very low. Test results show that the IVR success probability for CPR1000 is about 99% if the Critical Heat Flux (CHF) of CPR1000 is the same as that of AP600. Further works, including the ERVC enhancement design, the CHF test of the RPV outer wall and the recalculation of the IVR success probability for CPR1000, will be performed at detailed phase in the near future.