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The main purpose of the current study is to numerically investigate, through computational fluid dynamics modeling, a water jet injected vertically downward through a straight circular pipe into a water bath. The study also aims to obtain a better understanding of jet behavior, air entrainment and the dispersion of bubbles in the developing flow region. For these purposes, three dimensional air and water flows were modeled using the volume of fluid technique. The equations in question were formulated using the density and viscosity of a 'gas-liquid mixture', described in terms of the phase volume fraction. Three turbulence models with a high Reynolds number have been considered i. e. the standard k-e model, realizable k-e model, and Reynolds stress model. The predicted flow patterns for the realizable k-e model match well with experimental measurements found in available literature. Nevertheless, some discrepancies regarding velocity relaxation and turbulent momentum distribution in the pool are still observed for both the standard k-e and the Reynolds stress model.

In this article, we present the results of a few energy groups calculations for the NUR reactor fuel depletion analysis up to 45 000 MWd/tU taken as the maximum fuel burn up. The WIMSD-4 cell code has been employed as a calculation tool. In this study, we are interested in actinides such as the uranium and plutonium isotopes, as well as fission products Xe-135, Sm-149, Sm-151, Eu-155, and Gd-157. Calculation results regarding the five energy groups are in a good agreement with those obtained with only two energy groups which can, therefore, be used in all subsequent calculations. Calculation results presented in this article can be used as a microscopic data base for estimating the amount of radioactive sources randomly dispersed in the environment. They can also be used to monitor the fuel assemblies inventory at the core level.

Complex phenomena, as water hammer transients, occurring in nuclear power plants are still not very well investigated by the current best estimate computational tools. Within this frame work, a rapid positive reactivity addition into the core generated by a water hammer transient is considered. The numerical simulation of such phenomena was carried out using the coupled RELAP5/PARCS code. An over all data comparison shows good agreement between the calculated and measured core pressure wave trends. However, the predicted power response during the excursion phase did not correctly match the experimental tendency. Because of this, sensitivity studies have been carried out in order to identify the most influential parameters that govern the dynamics of the power excursion. After investigating the pressure wave amplitude and the void feed back responses, it was found that the disagreement between the calculated and measured data occurs mainly due to the RELAP5 low void condensation rate which seems to be questionable during rapid transients. .

There is a common understanding among thermal-hydraulic experts that the system analysis codes have currently reached an acceptable degree of maturity. Reliable application, however, is still limited to the validated domain. There is a growing need for qualified codes in assessing the safety of the existing reactors and for developing advanced reactor systems. Under conditions involving multi-phase flow simulations, the use of classical methods, mainly based upon the one dimensional approach, is not appropriate at all. The use of new computational models, such as the direct numerical simulation, large-eddy simulation or other advanced computational fluid dynamics methods, seems to be more suitable for more complex events. For this purpose, the European Commission financed NURESIM Integrated Project (as a part of the FP6 programme), was adopted to provide the initial step towards a Common European Standard Software Platform for Modeling, recording and recovering computer data for nuclear reactor simulations. Some of the studies carried out at the University of Pisa within the framework of the NURESIM project are presented in this paper. They mainly concern the investigation of two critical phenomena connected with jet instabilities and direct contact condensation that occur during emergency core cooling. Through these examples, the state-of-the-art and the need for model improvements and validation against new experimental data for the sake of getting a better understanding and more accurate predictions are discussed.

RELAP5 is a system code developed at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory for thermal hydraulic analysis of nuclear reactors. The code RELAP5 is widely used for safety analysis studies of commercial nuclear power plants. However, recent released version of RELAP5/3.2 and over present significant capabilities for analysis of nuclear reactor research systems. As a contribution to the assessment of RELAP5/3.3 for research reactor safety analysis, experimental data from the University of Massachusetts Lowell Research Reactor - UMLRR are used. The UMLRR is a 1 MW light water moderated and cooled, graphite-reflected, open-pool type research reactor. This paper presents the development and the validation of a UMLRR-RELAP model using experimental data. For this purpose, a series of experiments were performed for benchmarking RELAP5 calculations for research reactor systems. As a result of this study, the UMLRR nodalization is shown to be representative of the experimental data reactor behavior.

Prior to core reloading, planned power upgrading, or as a part of required analyses of past events, accurate safety evaluations should be carried out. Generally speaking, the content of a safety report has to be modified whenever a new type or design of fuel is to be used in a reactor core. As the existing plants have well established licensing procedures, including well founded analysis methods, the application of new analysis methods has to be thoroughly evaluated, with specific emphasis on their capability of producing results beneficial to reactor operation. The detailed study presented here was carried out so as to insure that the allowed operational safety limits of the NUR research reactor are not exceeded under any circumstances.

This paper presents the results of the application of the system of the thermalhydraulic code RELAP5/Mod3.2 in predicting the Peach Bottom Boiling Water Reactor Turbine Trip test. This experiment constitutes a challenge to the capabilities of current computational tools in realistically predicting transient scenarios in nuclear power plants. In fact, it involves strong feedback during the transient between thermalhydraulics and neutronics. In this respect, a reference case was run in order to simulate the interactions between the generated steam line pressure wave propagation and the instantaneous core void distribution. An overall comparison shows good agreement between the code calculations and the experimental data. A series of sensitivity analyses were also performed in order to assess the code prediction features, as well as to identify uncertainties related to the adopted thermalhydraulic parameters used for the plant modelisation.

Results of the CATHARE code calculations related to asymmetric cooldown tests in the PKL facility are presented. The test under consideration is the G2.1 experiment performed within the OECD/NEA PKL-2 project. It consists of carrying out a cooldown under natural circulation conditions in presence of two (out of four) emptied Steam Generators (SGs) and isolated on their secondary sides. The main goal of the current study is to assess the impact of a chosen cooldown strategy upon the occurrence of a Natural Circulation Interruption (NCI) in the inactive (i.e., noncooling) loops. For this purpose, three G2.1 test runs were investigated. The calculation results emphasize, mainly, the effect of the cooldown strategy, and the conditions that could lead to the occurrence of the NCI phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nowadays, the coupled codes technique, which consists in incorporating three-dimensional (3D) neutron modeling of the reactor core into system codes, is extensively used for carrying out best estimate (BE) simulation of complex transient in nuclear power plants (NPP). This technique is particularly suitable for transients that involve core spatial asymmetric phenomena and strong feedback effects between core neutronics and reactor loop thermal-hydraulics. Such complex interactions are encountered under normal and abnormal operating conditions of a boiling water reactors (BWR). In such reactors Oscillations may take place owing to the dynamic behavior of the liquid-steam mixture used for removing the thermal power. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to detect in a reliable way these oscillations. The purpose of this work is to characterize one aspect of these unstable behaviors using the coupled codes technique. The evaluation is performed against Peach Bottom-2 low-flow stability tests number 3 using the coupled RELAP5/PARCS code. In this transient dynamically complex neutron kinetics coupling with thermal-hydraulics events take place in response to a core pressure perturbation. The calculated coupled code results are herein assessed and compared against the available experimental data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Best Estimate computer codes have been, so far, developed for safety analysis of nuclear power plants and were extensively validated against a large set of separate effects and integral test facilities experimental data relevant to such kind of reactors. Their application to research reactors is not fully straightforward. Modelling problems generally emerge when applying existing models to low pressure and more particularly to subcooled flow boiling situations. The objective of the present work is to investigate the RELAP5/3.2 system code capabilities in predicting phenomena that could be encountered under abnormal research reactor’s operating conditions. For this purpose, the separate effect related to the static onset of flow instability is investigated. The cases considered herein are the flow excursion tests performed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory thermal hydraulic test loop (THTL) as well as some representative Whittle and Forgan (W&F) experiments. The simulation results are presented and the capabilities of RELAP5/Mod 3.2 in predicting this critical phenomenon are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: During a loss of coolant accident leading to total emptying of the reactor pool, the decay heat could be removed through air natural convection. However, under partial pool emptying the core is partially submerged and the coolant circulation inside the fuel element could no more be possible. Under such conditions, a core overheat takes place, and the thermal energy is essentially diffused from the core to its periphery by combined thermal radiation and conduction. In order to predict fuel element temperature evolution under such conditions a mathematical model is performed. The model is based on a 3D geometry and takes into account a variety of core configurations including fuel elements (standard and control), reflector elements and grid plates. The homogeneous flow model is used and the fluid conservation equations are solved using a semi-implicit finite difference method. Preliminary tests of the developed model were made by considering a series of hypothetical accidents. In the current framework a loss of decay heat removal accidents in the IAEA benchmark open pool MTR-type research reactor is considered. It is shown that in the case of a low core immersion height no water boiling is observed and the fuel surface temperature rise remains below the melting point of the aluminium cladding. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The main aim of the following study is to perform a safety analysis of the IAEA 10 MW MTR Pool type Research Reactor [IAEA-TECDOC-233, 1980. IAEA Research Reactor Core Conversion from the use of high-enriched uranium to the use of low enriched uranium fuels Guidebook] under flow blockage of a single Fuel Assembly (FA) conditions. Such event was rarely investigated in the open literature notwithstanding the fat that it constitutes a severe accident that may lead to local dryout and eventually to loss of the FA integrity. The transients herein considered are related to partial and total obstruction of the cooling channel of a single Fuel Assembly of the reactor core. This study constitutes the first step of a larger work, which consists in performing a 3D simulation using the Best Estimate coupled code technique. However, as a first approach the instantaneous reactor power is derived through the point kinetic approach of the used thermal-hydraulic system code. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nowadays, increased attention to safety issues for nuclear research reactors has emerged as a consequence of their enlarged commercial exploitation. Almost all of the research reactors safety analyses were, so far, performed using conservative computational tools. Currently, the application of Best-Estimate methods constitutes a real necessity in order to get a more realistic vision of the system behavior, and overcome constraining limits related to conservative approaches. The aim of the current work is an attempt to apply this technique using the system thermal-hydraulic RELAP5/Mod3.2 code. For this purpose, the IAEA 10 MW MTR pool type research reactors Benchmark problem is considered. The exercise consists in performing some fast transients related to typical reactivity induced accidents, and relatively slow transients related to loss of flow accidents. The RELAP5 results were compared against previous data obtained by various conservative channel codes. Differences between the two modeling approaches are afterwards emphasized and discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]