Comparison between passive reactor cavity cooling systems based on atmospheric radiation and atmospheric natural circulation

Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Liu, W.*; Morita, Koji*

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 151, p.107867_1 - 107867_11, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107867

A new RCCS with passive safety features consists of two continuous closed regions. One is a region surrounding RPV. The other is a cooling region with heat transferred to the ambient air. The new RCCS needs no electrical or mechanical driving devices. We compared the RCCS using atmospheric radiation with that using atmospheric natural circulation in terms of passive safety features and control methods for heat removal. The magnitude relationship for passive safety features is heat conduction radiation natural convection. Therefore, the magnitude for passive safety features of the former RCCS can be higher than that of the latter RCCS. In controlling the heat removal, the former RCCS changes the heat transfer area only. On the other hand, the latter RCCS needs to change the chimney effect. It is necessary to change the air resistance in the duct. Therefore, the former RCCS can control the heat removal more easily than the latter RCCS.

Four-point-bend tests on high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes after exposure to simulated LOCA conditions

Narukawa, Takafumi; Amaya, Masaki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(7), p.782 - 791, 2020/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2020.1724207

Change in mechanical properties by high-cycle loading up to Gigacycle for 316L stainless steel

Naoe, Takashi; Harjo, S.; Kawasaki, Takuro; Xiong, Z.*; Futakawa, Masatoshi

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 28, p.061009_1 - 061009_6, 2020/02

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.28.061009

At the J-PARC, a mercury target vessel made of 316L SS suffers proton and neutron radiation environment. The target vessel also suffers cyclic impact stress caused by the proton beam-induced pressure waves. The vessel suffers higher than 4.510 cyclic loading during the expected service life of 5000 h. We have investigated fatigue strength 316L SS up to gigacycle in the previous studies. The cyclic hardening and softening behavior were observed. In this study, to evaluate the cyclic hardening/softening behavior, the dislocation densities of specimens were measured using the neutron diffraction method at the MLF BL-19. The result showed that the dislocation density of a 316L SS was increased with increasing the number of loading cycles. By contrast, in the case of cold-rolled 316L SS, annihilation and re-accumulation of dislocation by cyclic loading were observed. In the workshop, result of neutron diffraction measurement will be introduced with the progress of fatigue test.

Comparative methodology between actual RCCS and downscaled heat-removal test facility

Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Liu, W.*; Morita, Koji*

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 133, p.830 - 836, 2019/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.07.025

A RCCS having passive safety features through radiation and natural convection was proposed. The RCCS design consists of two continuous closed regions: an ex-reactor pressure vessel region and a cooling region with a heat-transfer surface to ambient air. The RCCS uses a novel shape to remove efficiently the heat released from the RPV through as much radiation as possible. Employing air as the working fluid and ambient air as the ultimate heat sink, the RCCS design can strongly reduce the possibility of losing the working fluid and the heat sink for decay-heat-removal. Moreover, the authors started experiment research with using a scaled-down heat-removal test facility. Therefore, this study propose a comparative methodology between an actual RCCS and a scaled-down heat-removal test facility.

Oxidation behavior of high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes in high-temperature steam

Narukawa, Takafumi; Amaya, Masaki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 56(7), p.650 - 660, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1613268

Development of fuel performance code FEMAXI-8; Model improvements for light water reactor fuel analysis and systematic validation

Udagawa, Yutaka; Yamauchi, Akihiro*; Kitano, Koji*; Amaya, Masaki

JAEA-Data/Code 2018-016, 79 Pages, 2019/01

JAEA-Data-Code-2018-016.pdf:2.75MB

FEMAXI-8 is the latest version of the fuel performance code FEMAXI developed by JAEA. A systematic validation work has been achieved against 144 irradiation test cases, after many efforts have been made, in development of new models, improvements in existing models and the code structure, bug-fixes, construction of irradiation-tests database and other infrastructures.

Experimental study on heat removal performance of a new Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS)

Hosomi, Seisuke*; Akashi, Tomoyasu*; Matsumoto, Tatsuya*; Liu, W.*; Morita, Koji*; Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi

Proceedings of 11th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS-11) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2018/11

A new RCCS with passive safety features consists of two continuous closed regions. One is a region surrounding RPV. The other is a cooling region with heat transferred to the ambient air. The new RCCS needs no electrical or mechanical driving devices. We started experiment research with using a scaled-down test section. Three experimental cases under different emissivity conditions were performed. We used Monte Carlo method to evaluate the contribution of radiation to the total heat released from the heater. As a result, after the heater wall was painted black, the contribution of radiation to the total heat could be increased to about 60%. A high emissivity of RPV surface is very effective to remove more heat from the reactor. A high emissivity of the cooling part wall is also effective because it not only increases the radiation emitted to the ambient air, but also may increase the temperature difference among the walls and enhance the convection heat transfer in the RCCS.

Analyses of LSTF experiment and PWR plant for 5% cold-leg break loss of coolant accident

Watanabe, Tadashi*; Ishigaki, Masahiro*; Katsuyama, Jinya

Proceedings of 12th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics, Operation and Safety (NUTHOS-12) (USB Flash Drive), 9 Pages, 2018/10

The analyses of LSTF experiment and PWR plant for 5% cold-leg break LOCA are performed using the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code. The discharge coefficient of critical flow model is determined so as to obtain the agreement of pressure transient between the LSTF experiment and the experimental analysis, and used for the PWR analysis. The characteristics of thermal-hydraulic phenomena in the experiment are shown to be simulated well by the two analyses. The decrease in core differential pressure during the loop-seal clearing is, however, underestimated by the two analyses, and the core heat up is not predicted. The loop flow rates are also underestimated by the two analyses. Although the duration of core heat up during the boil-off period is longer in the experimental analysis, the results of two analyses agree well, and the effect of scaling is found to be small between the experimental analysis and the PWR analysis.

Remarks on accepting the 2017 Nuclear Fuel Division Award (presentation award), 1

Narukawa, Takafumi

Kaku Nenryo, (53-2), P. 5, 2018/08

no abstracts in English

Development of experimental technology for simulated fuel-assembly heating to address core-material-relocation behavior during severe accident

Abe, Yuta; Yamashita, Takuya; Sato, Ikken; Nakagiri, Toshio; Ishimi, Akihiro; Nagae, Yuji

Proceedings of 26th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-26) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2018/07

https://asme.pinetec.com/icone26/