Thermal‐hydraulic investigation of a proposed concept for a passive containment cooling system and evaluation of heat exchanger performance

Abstract

Reduction in ambient pressure within the containment of a light water reactor in the event of a hypothetical Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) is crucial for containment integrity. This article introduces the distinct concept of a Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS). In the proposed PCCS concept, the containment is divided into two compartments with appropriate volumes. An external heat exchanger is connected between the two compartments of the containment for heat transfer and pressure reduction in the case of LOCA. This concept has unique characteristics and provides many advantages over previous designs. A RELAP5 model was developed to perform thermal-hydraulic analysis of the proposed PCCS concept. The performance of the PCCS after its deployment on a small reactor (998.6 MWth) has been assessed under various conditions following LOCA. The results indicate that partitioning of the containment creates a differential pressure that acts as a driving force for flow through the PCCS heat exchanger. Consequently, a decrease in long-term containment pressure is observed. In the case of equal volume fractions in the two containment compartments, the PCCS reduces long-term pressure in the containment by 16.5%. Sensitivity analysis was conducted in which the flow area of the PCCS inlet line, the heat transfer area, and the size of the heat exchanger tank were varied. The PCCS heat transfer capacity increases as these parameters are increased. However, the former is less sensitive than the latter two. The performance of the PCCS heat exchanger under steady-state conditions was validated using RELAP5 simulations, empirical correlations, and analytical models. The evaluation of heat exchanger parameters by various methods (presented in Appendix 1 ) was found in close agreement.