Handling-manual of B-I type high pressure water capsule for reactivity initiated accident simulation experiment in NSRR

Suzuki, Toshiyuki; Muramatsu, Yasuyuki; Kamoshida, Shigeo

As a part of safety research of light water reactors (LWR), fuel behavior during a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) has being studied in the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSRR) using irradiated fuels in commercial reactors. During a past decade, RIA-simulating experiments in the NSRR showed that cladding failures at higher burnup occurred at lower enthalpy values than those would be expected. It was supposed that this type of the fuel failure may be influenced by an initial temperature of cladding since the failure occurs before the temperature escalation of the cladding due to the power burst. In order to verify the influence of the cladding temperature before the onset of power escalation during an RIA, we developed B-I type (the 1st type to simulate BWR operation condition) high pressure water capsule. This manual describes a series of working procedures from receiving the capsule to transporting it after experiment and a procedure in case of an emergency in order to perform the RIA-simulating experiments using the B-I type capsule safely and smoothly.