Pressure Oscillations in a Water-Cooled Nuclear Reactor Induced by Water-Hammer Waves

1960 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 901-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Lieberman ◽  
E. A. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Upper Bound ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Water Hammer ◽  
Design Criteria ◽  
Water Coolant ◽  
Pressure Loading ◽  
Pressure Oscillations ◽  
Plenum Chamber

Shutdown of the Babcock & Wilcox nuclear reactor water coolant pumps will cause check valves to close which will induce the generation of water hammer in the system. The magnitude, frequency, and duration of possible pressure oscillations in the pipeline and the discharge of the pressure oscillations into the attached plenum chamber were evaluated. Although the plenum chamber contains a great number of suspended rods, it was possible to establish the upper bound for the pressure loading across the internal structure of the plenum chamber at various stations for determination of design criteria.

Application of Track Membranes for Additional Treatment of Water Coolant of Nuclear Reactor

2009 ◽  
Vol 1193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salihbaev U.S. ◽  
Kist A.A. ◽  
Malikov Sh. R. ◽  
Pikul V.P. ◽  
Radyuk R.I. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Additional Treatment ◽  
Ion Exchange Resins ◽  
Water Coolant ◽  
Operational Effectiveness ◽  
Track Membranes ◽  
Exchange Resins ◽  
Purification Of Water

AbstractExperiments on determination of operational effectiveness of track membranes with different diameter of pores (0.2 – 0.05 microns) for additional purification of water of the first contour of the reactor before ion-exchange resins were carried out. The track membranes detain products of corrosion, and also products of wearing of moving parts of the equipment by the size of > 0.05 microns. Filtration experiments on of water of the first contour of the exploratory reactor of VVR-SM have shown high performance of track membranes.

Nuclear Power Plant Fires and Explosions: Part IV — Water Hammer Explosion Mechanisms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Leishear
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Water Hammer ◽  
Compression Process ◽  
Flammable Gas ◽  
Piping Systems ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi ◽  
Accident Conditions

Water hammers, or fluid transients, compress flammable gasses to their autognition temperatures in piping systems to cause fires or explosions. While this statement may be true for many industrial systems, the focus of this research are reactor coolant water systems (RCW) in nuclear power plants, which generate flammable gasses during normal operations and during accident conditions, such as loss of coolant accidents (LOCA’s) or reactor meltdowns. When combustion occurs, the gas will either burn (deflagrate) or explode, depending on the system geometry and the quantity of the flammable gas and oxygen. If there is sufficient oxygen inside the pipe during the compression process, an explosion can ignite immediately. If there is insufficient oxygen to initiate combustion inside the pipe, the flammable gas can only ignite if released to air, an oxygen rich environment. This presentation considers the fundamentals of gas compression and causes of ignition in nuclear reactor systems. In addition to these ignition mechanisms, specific applications are briefly considered. Those applications include a hydrogen fire following the Three Mile Island meltdown, hydrogen explosions following Fukushima Daiichi explosions, and on-going fires and explosions in U.S nuclear power plants. Novel conclusions are presented here as follows. 1. A hydrogen fire was ignited by water hammer at Three Mile Island. 2. Hydrogen explosions were ignited by water hammer at Fukushima Daiichi. 3. Piping damages in U.S. commercial nuclear reactor systems have occurred since reactors were first built. These damages were not caused by water hammer alone, but were caused by water hammer compression of flammable hydrogen and resultant deflagration or detonation inside of the piping.

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