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Advanced modelling of complex boron dilution transients in PWRs – Validation of ATHLET 3D-Module against the experiment ROCOM E2.3

Diaz Pescador, E.; Grahn, A.; Kliem, S.; Schäfer, F.; Höhne, T.

Inherent boron dilution in PWRs constitutes one of the key issues in nuclear safety research. This issue has been therefore widely investigated analytically and experimentally through several test facilities in Germany. Besides the knowledge gained on the matter, the experimental research has contributed to the creation of large databases for the validation of computational tools used in accident analyses such as system and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes. In Part I of a series of two papers, the multidimensional features of the thermal-hydraulic system code ATHLET are assessed based on the experimental results from the boron dilution experiment E2.3 carried out at the ROCOM test facility. In Part II, a code to code evaluation is performed against the CFD code ANSYS CFX. The aim of the present paper is twofold: first to validate the 3D-Module of ATHLET as well as the “Profile Model I” boron transport model concerning the transport and thermal mixing in the developed multidimensional vessel during the progression of a complex boron dilution event. The obtained results with ATHLET 3.1A are satisfactory and meet the validation exercise goals, especially concerning the calculation of the average boron concentration. However, the limitations of the code to simulate thermal mixing in the cold legs lead to few deviations concerning the calculation of the minimum boron concentration.

Keywords: ATHLET; ROCOM E2.3; thermal mixing; boron dilution; validation exercise

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Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-30098
Publ.-Id: 30098