Methodology development for explosion hazard evaluation in hydrogen production system using high temperature gas-cooled reactor

Morita, Keisuke; Aoki, Takeshi  ; Shimizu, Atsushi ; Sato, Hiroyuki  

High temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) is expected to use nuclear heat to wide range of industrial applications such as hydrogen production, which is capable of high temperature heat supply with inherent safe characteristics. JAEA started a High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) heat application test project to develop coupling technologies between HTGR and a hydrogen production plant necessary to achieve large-scale, carbon-free hydrogen production. One of the key technologies is a safety evaluation method which can simulate an impact of explosion hazards induced in the hydrogen production plant on reactor facility because HTGR hydrogen production system contains large amount of combustible gases such as hydrogen. A computational fluid dynamics code FLACS has been sufficiently validated for dispersion and explosion of combustible gases such as hydrogen and methane worldwide, however, only few attempts have been made for validation of analysis in closed area with small space. A leak of combustible gases to the piping in HTGR hydrogen production system may occur in case of abnormal condition in hydrogen production plant and therefore an explosion in the piping must be considered. This paper describes the validation of FLACS by analyzing explosion experiments in straight piping and complex piping aiming to establish a safety evaluation method for analyzing explosions of combustible gases in piping.