Data report of ROSA/LSTF experiment SB-SL-01; Main steam line break accident

Takeda, Takeshi 

An experiment denoted as SB-SL-01 was conducted on March 27, 1990 using the Large Scale Test Facility (LSTF) in the Rig of Safety Assessment-IV (ROSA-IV) Program. The ROSA/LSTF experiment SB-SL-01 simulated a main steam line break (MSLB) accident in a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The test assumptions were made such as auxiliary feedwater (AFW) injection into secondary-side of both steam generators (SGs) and coolant injection from high pressure injection (HPI) system of emergency core cooling system into cold legs in both loops. The MSLB led to a fast depressurization of broken SG, which caused a decrease in the broken SG secondary-side wide-range liquid level. The broken SG secondary-side wide-range liquid level recovered because of the AFW injection into the broken SG secondary-side. The primary pressure temporarily decreased a little just after the MSLB, and increased up to 16.1 MPa following the closure of the SG main steam isolation valves. Coolant was manually injected from the HPI system into cold legs in both loops a few minutes after the primary pressure reduced to below 10 MPa. The primary pressure raised due to the HPI coolant injection, but was kept at less than 16.2 MPa by fully opening a power-operated relief valve of pressurizer. The core was filled with subcooled liquid through the experiment. Thermal stratification was seen in intact loop cold leg during the HPI coolant injection owing to the flow stagnation. On the other hand, significant natural circulation prevailed in broken loop. When the continuous core cooling was ensured by the successive coolant injection from the HPI system, the experiment was terminated. The experimental data obtained would be useful to consider recovery actions and procedures in the multiple fault accident with the MSLB of PWR. This report summarizes the test procedures, conditions, and major observations in the ROSA/LSTF experiment SB-SL-01.