SIMULATION OF FEED WATER TEMPERATURE DECREASE ACCIDENT IN NUSCALE REACTOR

Abstract

Study on thermal hydraulic behavior of the NuScale reactor during secondary system malfunction that causes a feed water temperature decrease has been conducted using RELAP5 code. This study is necessary to investigate the performance of safety system and design in dealing with an accident. The method used involves simulation of reactor transient through numerical modeling and calculation in RELAP5 code covering primary and secondary system, including the decay heat removal system (DHRS). The investigation focuses on the flow and heat transfer characteristics that occurs during the transient. The  calculation result shows that at the beginning, core power increases up to trip set point of 200 MW which is driven by positive feedback reactivity of coolant overcooling and automatic control rod bank adjustment. Meanwhile, the core exit coolant temperature increases up to 600 K. and primary system circulation flow rate speeds up to 556 kg/s. After that, the reactor trips and power drops sharply, followed by opening of DHRS valves and closing of steam line and feed water isolation valves. The simulation shows that, the DHRS are capable to transfer decay heat to the reactor pool and as a result the primary system temperature and pressure decreases. The reactor could stay in safe shutdown state afterward.