Analysis of natural circulation tests in the experimental fast reactor JOYO

Nabeshima, Kunihiko  ; Doda, Norihiro  ; Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Mori, Takero ; Ohira, Hiroaki; Iwasaki, Takashi*

Natural circulation is one of the most important mechanisms to remove decay heat in the sodium cooled fast reactors from the viewpoint of passive safety. On the other hand, it is difficult to evaluate plant dynamics accurately under low flow natural circulation condition. In this study, Super-COPD has been validated through the application to the analysis of natural circulation tests in the experimental fast reactor JOYO. Almost all plant components in JOYO including four air-coolers were modeled in Super COPD. Furthermore, the full scale modeling of fuel subassembly was also adopted in this analysis. The natural circulation test after reactor scram from 100 MW full power at JOYO was selected and simulated by Super-COPD. The transient behaviors predicted by Super-COPD showed good agreement with the experimental data.