Title: Transient analysis of pressure and temperature of fluid into AP1000 reactor containment during DECL accident with several volumes modelling

Authors: Farzad Choobdar Rahim; Mohammad Rahgoshay

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; Mechanical Engineering Department, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. ' Faculty of Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Since the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, more stringent requirements have been imposed on the containment system for full replica nuclear power plant simulators. The simulation must be able to accurately respond under all normal operations and especially under abnormal conditions, including leaks and breaks of any size in any location in the reactor building. This paper presents one of the most dangerous accidents in reactor containments known as Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) in its worst condition which is called large LOCA. The specific type of large LOCA is DECL (Double Ended Cold Leg) break which means totally guillotine type of break in cold leg pipe. This modelling is performed in the four volume method in the AP1000 reactor, which is one of the most sophisticated safe reactors that have ever been built. The conservation mass, energy and momentum equations have been used in this modelling, and the modelling software applied in our analysis is MATLAB. The results are compared with the AP1000 safety, security and environmental reports.

Keywords: AP1000 reactors; reactor containment; DECL break; two phase; four volumes; heat transfer; nuclear power plants; NPP simulation; nuclear energy; nuclear reactors; loss of coolant accident; large LOCA; nuclear accidents; nuclear safety; cold leg pipes; modelling; transient analysis; fluid pressure; temperature.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2011.043481

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2011 Vol.6 No.3, pp.236 - 251

Published online: 14 Feb 2015 *

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