The OECD/NEA Working Group on the Analysis and Management of Accidents (WGAMA); Advances in codes and analyses to support safety demonstration of nuclear technology innovations

中村 秀夫; Bentaib, A.*; Herranz, L. E.*; Ruyer, P.*; Mascari, F.*; Jacquemain, D.*; Adorni, M.*

Proceedings of International Conference on Topical Issues in Nuclear Installation Safety; Strengthening Safety of Evolutionary and Innovative Reactor Designs (TIC 2022) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2022/10

The WGAMA activity achievements have been published as technical reports, becoming reference materials to discuss innovative methods, materials and technologies in the fields of thermal-hydraulics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and severe accidents (SAs). The International Standard Problems (ISPs) and Benchmarks of computer codes have been supported by a huge amount of the databases for the code validation necessary for the reactor safety assessment with accuracy. The paper aims to review and summarize the recent WGAMA outcomes with focus on new advanced reactor applications including small modular reactors (SMRs). Particularly, discussed are applicability of major outcomes in the relevant subjects of passive system, modelling innovation in CFD, severe accident management (SAM) countermeasures, advanced measurement methods and instrumentation, and modelling robustness of safety analysis codes. Although large portions of the outcomes are considered applicable, design-specific subjects may need careful considerations when applied. The WGAMA efforts, experiences and achievements for the safety assessment of operating nuclear power plants including SA will be of great help for the continuous safety improvements required for the advanced reactors including SMRs.

Main findings, remaining uncertainties and lessons learned from the OECD/NEA BSAF Project

Pellegrini, M.*; Herranz, L.*; Sonnenkalb, M.*; Lind, T.*; 丸山 結; Gauntt, R.*; Bixler, N.*; Morreale, A.*; Dolganov, K.*; Sevon, T.*; et al.

Proceedings of 18th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-18) (USB Flash Drive), p.1147 - 1162, 2019/08

The OECD/NEA Benchmark Study at the Accident of the Fukushima Daiichi NPS project (BSAF) has started in 2012 until 2018 as one of the earliest responses to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi NPS. The project addressed the investigation of the accident at Units 1, 2 and 3 by severe accident (SA) codes focusing on thermal-hydraulics, core relocation, molten core/concrete interaction (MCCI) and fission products release and transport. The objectives of BSAF were to make up plausible scenarios based primarily on SA forensic analysis, support the decommissioning and inform SA codes modeling. The analysis and comparison among the institutes have brought up vital insights regarding the accident progression identifying periods of core meltdown and relocation, reactor vessel (RV) and primary containment vessel (PCV) leakage/failure through the comparison of pressure, water level and CAMS measurement. The combination of code results and inspections has provided a picture of the current state of the debris distribution and plant state. All units present a large relocation of core materials and all of them present ex-vessel debris with units 1 and 3 showing evidences of undergoing MCCI. Uncertainties have been identified in particular on the time and magnitude of events such as corium relocation in RV and into cavity floor, RV and PCV rupture events. Main uncertainties resulting from the project are the large and continuous MCCI progression predicted by basically all the SA codes and the leak pathways from RV to PCV and PCV to reactor building and environment. The BSAF project represents a pioneering exercise which has set the basis and provided lessons learned not only for code improvement but also for the development of new related projects to investigate in details further aspects of the Fukushima Daiichi NPS accident.

Delayed gamma-ray spectroscopy inverse Monte Carlo analysis method for nuclear safeguards nondestructive assay applications

Rodriguez, D.; Rossi, F.; 瀬谷 道夫; 小泉 光生

Proceedings of 2017 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC 2017) (Internet), 3 Pages, 2018/11

The JAEA and EC JRC are collaborating to improve the ability to quantify the uranium and plutonium content of highly radioactive and mixed nuclear material for nuclear safeguards verification. A separate program focuses on improving the capability to measure, analyze, and predict the delayed gamma-ray spectrum used to determine the nuclide ratios within a sample. Measurements performed at the JRC-Ispra are used to correlate the observed DGs to the composition that are then used to calibrate a DG Monte Carlo. The MC has the ability to predict expected DGs, provide a sensitivity analysis to optimize future measurements, and can be used to analyze a spectrum using an inverse MC technique. Analyzing MC with this IMC analysis provides a way to determine systematic uncertainty as well as statistical uncertainty when multiple measurements are not feasible. This work will describe the efforts to develop the DGSMC and how it will be utilized for current and future applications.

Considerations on phenomena scaling for BEPU

中村 秀夫

Proceedings of ANS International Conference on Best Estimate Plus Uncertainties Methods (BEPU 2018) (USB Flash Drive), 8 Pages, 2018/00

軽水炉の安全評価にて、システム解析コードを用いて不確かさを考慮した最適評価解析(BEPU)を行うとき、本来目標である高温高圧で多様な形状を有する実機での伝熱流動条件下に生じる事故現象の精確な予測には依然として残されている課題がある。その中で、主に流路サイズと圧力(流体物性)に依存した現象のスケーリングが関与する課題の例を挙げ、Keynote講演での議論に資する。

RELAP5 uncertainty evaluation using ROSA/LSTF test data on PWR 17% cold leg intermediate-break LOCA with single-failure ECCS

竹田 武司; 大津 巌

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 109, p.9 - 21, 2017/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.05.007

An experiment was conducted for the OECD/NEA ROSA-2 Project using LSTF, which simulated a cold leg intermediate-break loss-of-coolant accident with 17% break in a PWR. Assumptions were made such as single-failure of high-pressure and low-pressure injection systems. In the LSTF test, core dryout took place because of rapid drop in the core liquid level. Liquid was accumulated in upper plenum, SG U-tube upflow-side and inlet plena because of counter-current flow limiting (CCFL). The post-test analysis by RELAP5/MOD3.3 code revealed that peak cladding temperature (PCT) was overpredicted because of underprediction of the core liquid level due to inadequate prediction of accumulator flow rate. We found the combination of multiple uncertain parameters including the Wallis CCFL correlation at the upper core plate, core decay power, and steam convective heat transfer coefficient in the core within the defined uncertain ranges largely affected the PCT.

ROSA/LSTF test on nitrogen gas behavior during reflux cooling in PWR and RELAP5 post-test analysis

竹田 武司; 大津 巌

Proceedings of 25th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-25) (CD-ROM), 11 Pages, 2017/07

An experiment focusing on nitrogen gas behavior during reflux cooling in a PWR was performed with the LSTF. The test conditions were made such as the constant core power of 0.7% of the volumetric-scaled PWR nominal power and the primary pressure of lower than 1 MPa. The steam generator (SG) secondary-side collapsed liquid level was maintained at a certain liquid level above the SG tube height. Nitrogen gas was injected stepwise into each SG inlet plenum at a certain constant amount. The primary pressure and the SG U-tube fluid temperatures were greatly dependent on the amount of nitrogen gas accumulated in the SG U-tubes. Non-uniform flow behavior was observed among the SG U-tubes with nitrogen gas ingress. The RELAP5/MOD3.3 code indicated remaining problems in the predictions of the primary pressure and the SG U-tube fluid temperatures after nitrogen gas inflow.

Bayesian optimization analysis of containment venting operation in a BWR severe accident

Zheng, X.; 石川 淳; 杉山 智之; 丸山 結

Proceedings of 13th Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management Conference (PSAM-13) (USB Flash Drive), 10 Pages, 2016/10

Containment venting is one of essential measures to protect the integrity of the final barrier of a nuclear reactor, by which the uncontrollable release of fission products can be avoided. The authors seek to develop an optimization approach to the planning of containment-venting operations by using THALES2/KICHE. Factors that control the activation of the venting system, for example, containment pressure, amount of fission products within the containment and pH value in the suppression chamber water pool, will affect radiological consequences. The effectiveness of containment venting strategies needs to be confirmed through numerical simulations. The number of iterations, however, needs to be controlled for cumbersome computational burden of severe accident codes. Bayesian optimization is a computationally efficient global optimization approach to find desired solutions. With the use of Gaussian process regression, a surrogate model of the "black-box" code is constructed. According to the predictions through the surrogate model, the upcoming location of the most probable optimum can be revealed. The number of code queries is largely reduced for the optimum finding, compared with simpler methods such as pure random search. The research demonstrates the applicability of the Bayesian optimization approach to the design and establishment of containment-venting strategies under BWR severe accident conditions.

ROSA/LSTF tests and RELAP5 posttest analyses for PWR safety system using steam generator secondary-side depressurization against effects of release of nitrogen gas dissolved in accumulator water

竹田 武司; 大貫 晃*; 金森 大輔*; 大津 巌

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations, 2016, p.7481793_1 - 7481793_15, 2016/00

AA2016-0048.pdf:5.15MB

https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/7481793

Two tests related to a new safety system for PWR were performed with ROSA/LSTF. The tests simulated cold leg small-break loss-of-coolant accidents with 2-inch diameter break using an early steam generator (SG) secondary-side depressurization with or without release of nitrogen gas dissolved in accumulator (ACC) water. The pressure difference between the primary and SG secondary sides after the actuation of ACC system was larger in the test with the dissolved gas release than in the test without the dissolved gas release. No core uncovery and heatup took place because of the ACC coolant injection and two-phase natural circulation. The RELAP5 code predicted most of the overall trends of the major thermal-hydraulic responses after adjusting a break discharge coefficient for two-phase discharge flow under the assumption of releasing all the dissolved gas at the vessel upper plenum.

ROSA/LSTF experiment on accident management measures during a PWR station blackout transient with pump seal leakage and RELAP5 analyses

竹田 武司; 大津 巌

Journal of Energy and Power Sources, 2(7), p.274 - 290, 2015/07

http://www.ethanpublishing.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=218&id=483

An experiment on accident management (AM) measures during a PWR station blackout transient with leakage from primary coolant pump seals was conducted using the ROSA/LSTF under an assumption of non-condensable gas inflow to the primary system from accumulator tanks. The AM measures are steam generator (SG) secondary-side depressurization by fully opening safety valves (SVs) in both SGs and primary-side depressurization by fully opening SV in pressurizer with the start of core uncovery and coolant injection into the SG secondary-side at low pressures. The decrease was accelerated in the primary pressure when the SG primary-to-secondary heat removal resumed soon after the coolant injection into the SG secondary-side. The primary depressurization worsened due to the gas accumulation in the SG U-tubes after accumulator completion. Remaining problems in the RELAP5 code include the predictions of pressure difference between the primary and SG secondary sides after the gas inflow.

ROSA/LSTF experiment on AM measures during a PWR station blackout transient with pump seal leakage and RELAP5 POST-TEST analysis

竹田 武司; 大津 巌

Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-23) (DVD-ROM), 10 Pages, 2015/05

An experiment on accident management (AM) measures during a PWR station blackout transient with the TMLB' scenario and leakage from primary coolant pump seals was conducted using the ROSA/LSTF under an assumption of non-condensable gas inflow to the primary system from accumulator tanks. The AM measures are steam generator (SG) secondary-side depressurization by fully opening safety valves (SVs) in both SGs and primary-side depressurization by fully opening SV in pressurizer with the start of core uncovery and coolant injection into the SG secondary-side at low pressures. The decrease was accelerated in the primary pressure when the SG primary-to-secondary heat removal resumed soon after the coolant injection into the SG secondary-side. The primary depressurization worsened due to the gas accumulation in the SG U-tubes. The RELAP5 code indicated remaining problems in the predictions of the primary pressure and SG U-tube collapsed liquid level.