Review of experimental database to support nuclear power plant safety analyses in SGTR and LOCA domains

In the framework of the EU R2CA project the available experimental databases were reviewed to support nuclear power plant safety analyses in SGTR and LOCA domains. The review focused on the phenomena related to fuel failure, fission products release from the fuel rods and activity transport up to the environment. Furthermore, it was shown that the phenomena were covered by different scale facilities and different experimental procedures for several reactor designs and materials. Among the tests several separate effect tests and integral tests are listed and some NPP measurements were also included. It was concluded that the reviewed database, which includes more than forty experimental programmes and measurement series can be considered as a reliable basis to support the development and validation of numerical models for SGTR and LOCA safety analyses.</p

Numerical analyses of an ex-core fuel incident:Results of the OECD-IAEA Paks Fuel Project

The OECD-IAEA Paks Fuel Project was developed to support the understanding of fuel behaviour in accident conditions on the basis of analyses of the Paks-2 incident. Numerical simulation of the most relevant aspects of the event and comparison of the calculation results with the available data from the incident was carried out between 2006 and 2007. A database was compiled to provide input for the code calculations. The activities covered the following three areas: (a) Thermal hydraulic calculations described the cooling conditions possibly established during the incident. (b) Simulation of fuel behaviour described the oxidation and degradation mechanisms of the fuel assemblies. (c) The release of fission products from the failed fuel rods was estimated and compared to available measured data. The applied used codes captured the most important events of the Paks-2 incident and the calculated results improved the understanding of the causes and mechanisms of fuel failure. The numerical analyses showed that the by-pass flow leading to insufficient cooling amounted to 75-90% of the inlet flow rate, the maximum temperature in the tank was between 1200 and 1400 °C, the degree of zirconium oxidation reached 4-12% and the mass of produced hydrogen was between 3 and 13 kg. © 2009 Elsevier B.V