• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.3491-3496
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• 2007

If a molten core is released from a reactor vessel into a reactor cavity during a severe accident, an important safety issue of coolability of the molten core from top-flooding and concrete ablation due to a molten core concrete interaction (MCCI) is still unresolved. The released molten core debris would attack the concrete wall and basemat of the reactor cavity, which will lead to inevitable concrete decompositions and possible radiological releases. In a OECD/MCCI project scheduled for 4 years from 2002. 1 to 2005. 12, a series of tests were performed to secure the data for cooling the molten core spread out at the reactor cavity and for the 2-D long-term core concrete interaction (CCI). The tests included not only separate effect tests such as a melt eruption, water ingression, and crust failure tests with a prototypic material but also 2-D CCI tests with a prototypic material under dry and flooded cavity conditions. The paper deals with the transient simulations on the CCI-2 test by using a severe accident analysis code, CORQUENCH, which was developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Similar simulations had been already per for me d by using MELCOR 1.8.5 code. Unlike the MELCOR 1.8.5, the CORQUENCH includes a melt eruption mode I and a newly developed water ingression model based on the water ingression tests under the OECD/MCCI project. In order to adjust the geometrical differences between the CCI-2 test (rectangular geometry) and the simulations (cylindrical geometry), the same scaling methodology as used in the MELCOR simulation was applied. For the direct comparison of the simulation results, the same inputs for the MELCOR simulation were used. The simulation results were compared with the previous results by using MELCOR 1.8.5.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2534-2544
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• 2024

This paper proposes a flooding safety system (FSS) and its operation strategy that can provide long-term safety and effective maintenance for modules of small modular reactor (SMR) and metal containment maintained at dried environment during normal operation. During hypothesized accidents, the FSS re-collects the evaporated steam into the common pool by the condenser installed above the common water pool and provides an emergency coolant for the cavities and auxiliary pools. This study suggested that the condensate re-collection strategy using the FSS can effectively delay the depletion of available water in response to the accidents. Without recollection, the achievable grace periods ranged from 44 to 1507 days for six-module and one-module accidents, respectively. However, with a full re-collection (ratio = 1.0), the time to total depletion of emergency coolant was estimated indefinite. Even with a partial re-collection ratio of 0.3, a grace period of 83.5 days could be ensured for a six-module transient. This study reported the effectiveness of condensate re-collection and the FSS as an innovative safety management strategy and system. Employing a condensate re-collection strategy with a high re-collection ratio can enhance the long-term safety and effective convenience of SMR operations and maintenance.