Analysis of pressure- and temperature- induced steam generator tube rupture during PWR severe accident initiated from station blackout

Hidaka, Akihide; Maruyama, Yu; Nakamura, Hideo

Proceedings of 6th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Operations and Safety (NUTHOS-6) (CD-ROM), 15 Pages, 2004/00

Severe accident studies showed that Direct Containment Heating issue was resolved for PWRs because a creep rupture at pressurizer surge line would occur prior to the melt-through of Reactor Pressure Vessel during station blackout (TMLB'). However, it was recently concerned that, if the secondary system is depressurized during TMLB', the creep rupture at SG U-tubes would occur earlier than the surge line. This pressure- and temperature-induced SG U-tube rupture (PTI-SGTR) is not preferable because of the increase in offsite consequences. The SCDAP/RELAP5 analyses by USNRC showed that the surge line would fail earlier than the U-tubes. However, the analyses used a coarse nodilization for steam mixing at the SG inlet plenum that could affect the temperature of U-tubes. To investigate the effect of steam mixing, an analysis was performed with MELCOR1.8.4. The analysis showed that the surge line would fail earliest during TMLB' while the U-tubes could fail earliest during TMLB' with secondary system depressurization. Further investigation is needed for occurrence conditions of PTI-SGTR.