Pages: 3 - 9

Authors: Ahmed KHEDR, Francesco D'AURIA

Abstract

The present work deals with the analysis of RELAP5 results obtained from the evaluation study of the total loss of flow transient with the deficiency of the heat removal system in a research reactor using two different nodalizations. It focuses on the effect of nodalization on the thermal-hydraulic evaluation of the research reactor. The analysis of RELAP5 results has shown that nodalization has a big effect on the predicted scenario of the postulated transient. There fore, great care should be taken during the nodalization of the reactor, especially when the available experimental or measured data are insufficient for making a complete qualification of the nodalization. Our analysis also shows that the research reactor pool simulation has a great effect on the evaluation of natural circulation flow and on other thermal-hydraulic parameters during the loss of flow transient. For example, the on set time of core boiling changes from less than 2000 s to 15000 s, starting from the beginning of the transient. This occurs if the pool is simulated by two vertical volumes instead of one vertical volume.

Key words: research reactor, loss of flow, natural circulation, nodalization effect, thermal-hidraulic parameters, RELAP5

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