A Systematic Review of PCTRAN-Based Pressurized Water Reactor Transient Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suubi Racheal ◽  
Yongkuo Liu ◽  
Miyombo Ernest ◽  
Abiodun Ayodeji
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Research Education ◽  
User Expertise ◽  
Scale Down ◽  
Water Reactors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Training

Abstract The impact of nuclear accidents has been a topic of debate since the construction of the first nuclear reactor, and still stands as a key issue of public concern. Several codes and simulators have been used to study the transient progression in pressurized water reactors, and to evaluate the technical measures adopted to scale down the risk of accidents. However, some of these codes are not suitable for multipurpose research and training as they require significant user expertise, leading to analysis uncertainties largely from the code user effect. This paper presents a bird-eye view of one of the most widely used nuclear reactor transient analyzer — the Personal Computer Transient Analyzer (PCTRAN). This paper discusses the comparative advantages of the simulator from the users’ perspective, with specific attention to its utilization both for research and training. The paper also demonstrates the ease of usage by simulating common transient in a pressurized water reactor. Finally, observations and possible improvements to the code to increase its usability in research, education and training are discussed. This work aims to evaluate the robustness of the simulator towards better utilization for research and training, especially in nuclear newcomer countries.

scholarly journals Contribution to the study of fission products release from nuclear fuels in severe accident conditions: effect of the pO2 on Cs, Mo and Ba speciation

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Le Gall ◽  
Fabienne Audubert ◽  
Jacques Léchelle ◽  
Yves Pontillon ◽  
Jean-Louis Hazemann
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Potential ◽  
Fission Products ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Mox Fuel ◽  
Chemical Behaviour ◽  
Accident Conditions ◽  
The Impact

The objective of this work is to experimentally investigate the effect of the oxygen potential on the fuel and FP chemical behaviour in conditions representative of a severe accident. More specifically, the speciation of Cs, Mo and Ba is investigated. These three highly reactive FP are among the most abundant elements produced through 235U and 239Pu thermal fission and may have a significant impact on human health and environmental contamination in case of a light water reactor severe accident. This work has set out to contribute to the following three fields: providing experimental data on Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) MOX fuel behaviour submitted to severe accident conditions and related FP speciation; going further in the understanding of FP speciation mechanisms at different stages of a severe accident; developing a method to study volatile FP behaviour, involving the investigation of SIMFuel samples manufactured at low temperature through SPS. In this paper, a focus is made on the impact of the oxygen potential towards the interaction between irradiated MOX fuels and the cladding, the interaction between Mo and Ba under oxidizing conditions and the assessment of the oxygen potential during sintering.

An Estimation of the Dynamic Buckling Load for the Spacer Grid of Pressurized Water Reactor Fuel Assembly

2006 ◽  
Vol 326-328 ◽  
pp. 1603-1606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang Youn Jeon ◽  
Young Shin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Assembly ◽  
Dynamic Buckling ◽  
Buckling Load ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Spacer Grid ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Spacer Grids ◽  
The Impact

This study contains an estimation of the dynamic buckling load for the spacer grid of fuel assembly in pressurized water reactor. Three different estimation methods were proposed for the calculation of the dynamic buckling loads of spacer grid. The dynamic impact tests and analyses were performed to evaluate the impact characteristics of the spacer grids and to predict the dynamic buckling load of the full size spacer grid. The estimation results were compared with the test results for the verification of the estimation methods.

How to Simulate the Microstructure Induced by a Nuclear Reactor with an Ion Beam Facility : DART

2009 ◽  
Vol 1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Luneville ◽  
David Simeone ◽  
Gianguido Baldinozzi ◽  
Dominique Gosset ◽  
yves serruys
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Nuclear Reactions ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Fast Neutrons ◽  
Relaxation Processes ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactors ◽  
Displacement Per Atom ◽  
The Impact

AbstractEven if the Binary Collision Approximation does not take into account relaxation processes at the end of the displacement cascade, the amount of displaced atoms calculated within this framework can be used to compare damages induced by different facilities like pressurized water reactors (PWR), fast breeder reactors (FBR), high temperature reactors (HTR) and ion beam facilities on a defined material. In this paper, a formalism is presented to evaluate the displacement cross-sections pointing out the effect of the anisotropy of nuclear reactions. From this formalism, the impact of fast neutrons (with a kinetic energy En superior to 1 MeV) is accurately described. This point allows calculating accurately the displacement per atom rates as well as primary and weighted recoil spectra. Such spectra provide useful information to select masses and energies of ions to perform realistic experiments in ion beam facilities.

Interfacial behavior of the air-water counter-current two-phase flow in a 1/30 scale-down of pressurized water reactor (PWR) hot leg

2018 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 376-387
Author(s):  
Apip Badarudin ◽  
Andriyanto Setyawan ◽  
Okto Dinaryanto ◽  
Arif Widyatama ◽  
Indarto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Two Phase Flow ◽  
Phase Flow ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Interfacial Behavior ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Scale Down ◽  
Counter Current

scholarly journals Thermodynamic consequences of hydrogen combustion within a containment of pressurized water reactor

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-79
Author(s):  
Tomasz Bury
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Hydrogen Combustion ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Lumped Parameter ◽  
Loss Of Coolant

Thermodynamic consequences of hydrogen combustion within a containment of pressurized water reactor Gaseous hydrogen may be generated in a nuclear reactor system as an effect of the core overheating. This creates a risk of its uncontrolled combustion which may have a destructive consequences, as it could be observed during the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Favorable conditions for hydrogen production occur during heavy loss-of-coolant accidents. The author used an own computer code, called HEPCAL, of the lumped parameter type to realize a set of simulations of a large scale loss-of-coolant accidents scenarios within containment of second generation pressurized water reactor. Some simulations resulted in high pressure peaks, seemed to be irrational. A more detailed analysis and comparison with Three Mile Island and Fukushima accidents consequences allowed for withdrawing interesting conclusions.

Fretting Wear Behavior of APMT Steel at 350°C for Reactor Fuel Cladding Application

MRS Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (35) ◽  
pp. 2495-2500
Author(s):  
Thomas Winter ◽  
James Huggins ◽  
Richard Neu ◽  
Preet Singh ◽  
Chaitanya S. Deo
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Wear Behavior ◽  
Sem Analysis ◽  
Fretting Wear ◽  
Pressurized Water Reactor ◽  
Fuel Cladding ◽  
Reactor Accident ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Fuel Rod

ABSTRACTIn support of a recent surge in research to develop an accident tolerant reactor, accident tolerant fuels and cladding candidates are being investigated. Relative motion between the fuel rods and fuel assembly spacer grids can lead to excessive fuel rod wear and, in some cases, to fuel rod failure. Based on industry data, grid-to-rod-fretting (GTRF) has been the number one cause of fuel failures within the U.S. pressurized water reactor (PWR) fleet, accounting for more than 70% of all PWR leaking fuel assemblies. APMT, an Fe-Cr-Al steel alloy, is being examined for the I2S-LWR project as a possible alternative to conventional fuel cladding in a nuclear reactor due to its favorable performance under LOCA conditions. Tests were performed to examine the reliability of the cladding candidate under simulated fretting conditions of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The contact is simulated with a rectangular and a cylindrical specimen over a line contact area. A combination of SEM analysis and wear & work rate calculations are performed on the samples to determine their performance and wear under fretting. While APMT can perform favorably in loss of coolant accident scenarios, it also needs to perform well when compared to Zircaloy-4 with respect to fretting wear.

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