A Study on the thermal-hydraulics in the damaged subassemblies under the operation of decay heat removal system

Ono, Ayako ; Onojima, Takamitsu; Doda, Norihiro  ; Miyake, Yasuhiro*; Kamide, Hideki 

Some auxiliary cooling systems to remove the decay heat of the core are under consideration for a sodium-cooled fast reactor, and two of the typical systems are primary reactor auxiliary cooling system (PRACS) and direct reactor auxiliary cooling system (DRACS). In this study, sodium experiments were conducted in order to confirm the applicability of the PRACS and DRACS under a situation assuming the severe accidents with core melting. The plant dynamics test loop was used for these experiments, which contains a simulated core, the PRACS and DRACS. The core melt situation is simulated by shutting off the inlet of subassemblies (S/A). The experimental results revealed the cooling process of the partially/completely inactive S/A and confirmed the long-term heat removal by the PRACS/DRACS.