• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.50-60
• /
• 2016

A design methodology of the modeled test facility to conserve an injection performance of a passive safety injection system is proposed. This safety injection system is composed of a core makeup tank and a safety injection tank. Individual tanks are connected with pressure balance line on the top side and injection line on the bottom side. It is important to conserve the scaled initial injection flow rate and total injection time since this system can be operated by small gravity head without any active pumps. Differential pressure distribution of the injection line induced by the gravity head is determined by the vertical length and elevation of each tank. However, the total injection time is adjustable by the flow resistance coefficient of the injection line. The scaling methodology for the tank and flow resistance coefficient is suggested. A key point of this test facility design is a scaling analysis for the flow resistance coefficient. The scaling analysis proposed on this paper is based on the volume scaling law with the same vertical length to the prototype and can be extended to a model with a reduced vertical length. A set of passive injection test were performed for the tanks with the same volume and the different length. The test results on the initial flow rate and total injection time showed the almost same injection characteristics and they were in good agreement with the design values.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.165-172
• /
• 2016

An experimental study of the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of passive safety systems (PSSs) was conducted using a system-integrated modular advanced reactor-integral test loop (SMART-ITL). The present passive safety injection system for the SMART-ITL consists of one train with the core makeup tank (CMT), the safety injection tank, and the automatic depressurization system. The objective of this study is to investigate the injection effect of the PSS on the small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) scenario for a 0.4 inch line break in the safety-injection system (SIS). The steady-state condition was maintained for 746 seconds before the break. When the major parameters of the target value and test results were compared, most of the thermal-hydraulic parameters agreed closely with each other. The water level of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was maintained higher than that of the fuel assembly plate during the transient, for the present CMT and safety injection tank (SIT) flow rate conditions. It can be seen that the capability of an emergency core cooling system is sufficient during the transient with SMART passive SISs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.443-453
• /
• 2015

A hybrid safety injection tank (H-SIT) can enhance the capability of an advanced power reactor plus (APR+) during a station black out (SBO) that is accompanied by a severe accident. It may a useful alternative to an electric motor. The operations strategy of the H-SIT has to be investigated to achieve maximum utilization of its function. In this study, the master logic diagram (i.e., an analysis for identifying the differences between an H-SIT and a safety injection pump) and an accident case classification were used to determine the parameters of the H-SIT operation. The conditions that require the use of an H-SIT were determined using a decision-making process. The proper timing for using an H-SIT was also analyzed by using the Multi-dimensional Analysis of Reactor Safety (MARS) 1.3 code (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, South Korea). The operation strategy analysis indicates that a H-SIT can mitigate five types of failure: (1) failure of the safety injection pump, (2) failure of the passive auxiliary feedwater system, (3) failure of the depressurization system, (4) failure of the shutdown cooling pump (SCP), and (5) failure of the recirculation system. The results of the MARS code demonstrate that the time allowed for recovery can be extended when using an H-SIT, compared with the same situation in which an H-SIT is not used. Based on the results, the use of an H-SIT is recommended, especially after the pilot-operated safety relief valve (POSRV) is opened.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2004.12a
• /
• pp.635-640
• /
• 2004

The present paper provides the design specifications and working principle of flow controlling vortex valve which will be adopted in a Korean next generation reactor (APR1400). The vortex valve is installed inside the pressurized safety injection tank of APR1400, and it passively controls the water discharge flowrate from the tank. In the present study, the performance of the vortex valve have been evaluated throughout the repeated experiments in the full-scale test facility called VAPER(VAlve Performance Evaluation Rig). Based on the experimental results, it is confirmed that the currently developed vortex valve satisfies the major performance requirements of APR1400 plant design in view of the peak discharge flowrate, pressure loss coefficient, and total discharge duration time. To achieve the highest quality of the experimental results, a quality assurance program for vortex valve tests has been strictly applied.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.185-191
• /
• 2016

The Hybrid Safety Injection Tank is a passive safety injection system that enables the safety injection water to be injected into the reactor pressure vessel throughout all operating pressures by connecting the top of the SIT and the pressurizer(PZR). In this study, the condition for balancing the pressure between the Hybrid SIT and PZR was derived theoretically. The pressure balancing condition was set at the point where the velocity of the Hybrid SIT coolant injected into the Direct Vessel Injection(DVI) line was at or above zero. If the condition was derived from a pressure network for the Hybrid SIT, pressurizer, and reactor pressure vessel, the pressure difference between the pressurizer and SIT is less than 0.07 MPa.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2011

Advanced SITs of the evolutionary PWRs have the advantage that they can passively control the ECC water discharge flow rate. Thus, the LPSI pumps can be eliminated from the safety injection system owing to the benefit of the advanced SITs. In the present study, a passive sealing plate was designed in order to overcome the shortcoming of the advanced SITs, i.e., the early nitrogen discharge through the stand pipe. The operating principle of the sealing plate depends only on the natural phenomena of buoyancy and gravity. The performance of the sealing plate was evaluated using the VAPER test facility, equipped with a full-scale SIT. It was verified that the passive sealing plate effectively prevented the air discharge during the entire duration of the ECC water discharge. Also, the major performance parameters of the advanced SIT were not changed with the installation of the sealing plate.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.64-72
• /
• 2014

This study aimed at assessing the analysis capability of thermal-hydraulic computer code, MARS for the behaviors of the core make-up tank (CMT). The sensitivity study on the nodalization to simulate the CMT was conducted, and the MARS calculations were compared with KAIST experimental data and RELAP5/MOD3.3 calculations. The 12-node model was fixed through a nodalization study to investigate the effect of the number of nodes in the CMT (2-, 4-, 8-, 12-, 16-node). The sensitivity studies on various parameters, such as water subcooling of the CMT, steam pressure, and natural circulation flow were done. MARS calculations were reasonable in the injection time and the effects of several parameters on the CMT behaviors even though the mesh-dependency should be properly treated for reactor applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.1890-1901
• /
• 2022

We have assessed the applicability of the thermal-hydraulic system analysis code, SPACE, to a small modular reactor called SMART. For the assessment, the experimental data from a scale-down integral-test facility, SMART-ITL, were used. It was conformed that the SPACE code unrealistically calculates the safety injection flow rate through the CMT and SIT during a small-break loss-of-coolant experiment. This unrealistic behavior was due to the overprediction of interfacial heat transfer at the steam-water interface in a vertically stratified flow in the tanks. In this study, a special thermal-hydraulic component model has been developed to realistically calculate the interfacial heat transfer when a strong non-equilibrium two-phase flow is formed in the CMT or SIT. Additionally, we developed a special heat structure model, which analytically calculates the heat transfer from the hot steam to the cold tank wall. The combination of two models for the tank are called the special component model. We assessed it using the SMART-ITL passive safety injection system (PSIS) test data. The results showed that the special component model well predicts the transient behaviors of the CMT and SIT.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 1996.11a
• /
• pp.395-400
• /
• 1996

Scoping analyses for the Safety Injection System (SIS) configuration for Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR) are peformed in this study. The KNGR SIS consists of four mechanically separated hydraulic trains. Each hydraulic train consisting of a High Pressure Safety Injection (HPSI) pump and a Safety Injection Tank (SIT) is connected to the Direct Vessel Injection (DVI) nozzle located above the elevation of cold leg and thus injects water into the upper portion of reactor vessel annulus. Also, the KNGR is going to adopt the advanced design feature of passive fluidic device which will be installed in the discharge line of SIT to allow more effective use of borated water during the transient of large break LOCA. To determine the feasible configuration and capacity of SIT and HPSI pump with the elimination of the Low Pressure Safety Injection (LPSI) pump for KNGR, licensing design basis evaluations are performed for the limiting large break LOCA. The study shows that the DVI injection with the fluidic device SIT enhances the SIS performance by allowing more effective use of borated water for an extended period of time during the large break LOCA.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.104-108
• /
• 2014

The recent Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents shows that the core make up at high RCS pressure condition is very important to prevent core melting. The core make up flow at high pressure condition should be driven by gravity force or passive forces because the AC-powered safety features are not available during a Station Black Out (SBO) accident. The reactor Coolant System (RCS) mass inventory is continuously decreased by releasing steam through the pressurizer safety valves after reactor trip during a SBO accident. The core will be melted down within 2~3 hours without core make up action by active or passive mode. In the new design concept of a Hybrid Safety Injection Tank (Hybrid SIT) both for low and high RCS pressure conditions, the low pressure nitrogen gas serves as a charging pressure for a LBLOCA injection mode, while the PZR high pressure steam provides an equalizing pressure for a high pressure injection mode such as a SBO accident. After the pressure equalizing process by battery driven initiation valve at a high pressure SBO condition, the Hybrid SIT injection water will be passively injected into the reactor downcomer by gravity head. The SBO simulation by MARS code show that the core makeup injection flow through the Hybrid SIT continued up to the SIT empty condition, and the core heatup is delayed as much.