Loading condition evaluation for structural integrity assessment of RPV due to PTS event based on three-dimensional thermal-hydraulics and structural analyses

Uno, Shumpei; Katsuyama, Jinya  ; Watanabe, Tadashi*; Li, Y. 

For structural integrity assessment on reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) of pressurized water reactor during the pressurized thermal shock (PTS) events, thermal history of coolant water and heat transfer coefficient between coolant water and RPV are dominant factors. These values can be determined on the basis of thermal-hydraulics (TH) analyses simulating PTS events and Jackson-Fewster correlation. Using these values, subsequently, loading conditions for structural integrity assessments of RPVs are evaluated by structural analyses. Nowadays, three-dimensional TH and structural analyses are recognized as precise assessment method for structural integrity of RPVs. In this study, we performed the TH and structural analyses using three-dimensional models of cold-leg, downcomer and RPV in order to evaluate loading conditions during a PTS event more accurately. Distributions of temperature of coolant water and heat transfer coefficient on the surface of RPV were calculated by TH analysis. Loading condition evaluation was then performed by using these values and taking the weld residual stress due to weld-overlay cladding and post-weld heat treatment into consideration. From these analyses, we obtained histories and distributions of loading conditions at the reactor core region of RPV. We discussed the conservativeness of current structural integrity assessment method of RPV prescribed in the current codes through the comparison in the loading conditions due to PTS event.