ATHLET model development for the passive pressure pulse transmitter as part of the passive safety systems of a nuclear reactor within the frame of the German EASY project


ATHLET model development for the passive pressure pulse transmitter as part of the passive safety systems of a nuclear reactor within the frame of the German EASY project

Sporn, M.; Neukam, N.; Schuster, C.; Hurtado, A.; Hampel, U.; Schäfer, F.

In nuclear power plants, various kinds of active safety systems are installed to control reactor power and to ensure safe and stable core cooling for a wide spectrum of transients and accidents. The safety concept is complemented by inherent safety features and, especially for new reactor designs, by innovative passive safety systems. These systems are based on a change in the thermodynamic equilibrium established at steady-state conditions, enabling them to function without electric power supply. An important part of the passive safety systems of the KERENA© reactor, an evolutionary boiling-water reactor concept jointly developed by AREVA and PreussenElectra (formerly E.ON), is the passive pressure pulse transmitter (PPPT). In case of an accident with decreasing reactor water level, the PPPT serves as an alternative trigger to activate reactor scram, containment isolation or automatic depressurization of the reactor cooling system. Investigations on the interaction of the various components of the KERENA© passive safety concept (e.g. PPPT, emergency condenser and containment cooling condenser) are being performed for the EASY project. Using the system code ATHLET an input deck of the PPPT has been developed and successfully validated. Additionally, an ATHLET input deck for the complete passive heat-removal system has been developed to simulate hypothetical accident transients, which will be experimentally investigated at the INKA test facility in Karlstein. In this paper, the results of the simulations for the PPPT and a simulation for a hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident are presented.

Keywords: Passive pressure pulse transmitter; passive systems; ATHLET; KERENA; INKA; EASY

  • Contribution to proceedings
    17th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-17), 03.-08.09.2017, Xi’an, China
  • Lecture (Conference)
    17th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-17), 03.-08.09.2017, Xi’an, China

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Publ.-Id: 25290