Experimental study on secondary depressurization action for PWR vessel bottom small break LOCA with HPI failure and gas inflow (ROSA-V/LSTF test SB-PV-03)

Suzuki, Mitsuhiro; Takeda, Takeshi ; Asaka, Hideaki; Nakamura, Hideo  

A small break LOCA (SBLOCA) experiment was conducted at the LSTF of ROSA-V program to study effects of accident management (AM) on core cooling, which is important in case of high pressure injection (HPI) system failure during an SBLOCA at a PWR. The experiment, SB-PV-03, simulated ten instrument-tube break LOCA at the PWR vessel bottom equivalent to 0.2% cold leg break, total HPI failure, non-condensable gas inflow from accumulator injection system (AIS) and AM actions on secondary depressurization at -55 K/h and auxiliary feedwater (AFW) supply for 30 minutes. It was clarified that the AM actions were effective on primary depressurization until AIS injection end at 1.6 MPa, but thereafter became less effective by the gas inflow, resulting in low pressure injection (LPI) delay and whole core heatup under continuous water discharge at the break. The report describes these phenomena including core heatup related with primary coolant mass and AM actions, primary-to-secondary heat transfer analysis and estimation of gas in the primary loops.