PROBLEMS OF ATOMIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Series: Nuclear and Reactor Constants

since 1971

Русский (РФ)

ISSN 2414-1038 (online)

ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF CORE REFLOODING AND SPRAY SYSTEM ACTIVATION IN A SEVERE ACCIDENT AT VVER-1000 ON HYDROGEN EXPLOSION SAFETY UNDER CONTAINMENT

EDN: KRGNYS

Authors & Affiliations

Akhmedov I.S., Kiselev A.E.
Nuclear Safety Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Akhmedov I.S. – Research Engineer. Contacts: 52, Bolshaya Tulskaya st., Moscow, Russia, 115191. Tel.: +7 (495) 955-22-73; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Kiselev A.E. – Head of Department, Dr. Sci. (Tech.).

Abstract

Reflooding of the dried core of pressurized water reactors can have negative consequences for the explosion safety of NPP, which are expressed in the intensive generation of hydrogen. Therefore, it is necessary to justify the effectiveness application of reflooding in a severe accident with loss of coolant, which means to exclude the possibility of hydrogen explosion under the NPP containment. This paper presents the results of numerical research of a severe accident with guillotine rupture of the pressurizer surge line (two-side break Du346) in a VVER-1000 power unit using the SOCRAT code certified by Rostechnadzor. The analysis of the calculation results demonstrated that the current level of knowledge about the reflooding phenomenology and uncertainty of the hydrogen combustion criteria do not allow to exclude completely the increase of the severity class of the accident consequences according to the INES-2008 scale in case of water supply to the superheated core compared to a scenario without a reflood. Thus, the accident management measures considered in the paper are not always effective, and the decision on their implementation during a severe accident should take into account the current state of power unit.

Keywords
VVER, spray system, containment, reflooding, core, hydrogen, large break, severe accident, SOCRAT

Article Text (PDF, in Russian)

References

UDC 621.039.586

Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. Series: Nuclear and Reactor Constants, 2024, no. 4, 4:15