ANALYSIS OF AN EXTREME LOSS OF COOLANT IN THE IPR-R1 TRIGA REACTOR USING A RELAP5 MODEL

Abstract

The RELAP5/MOD3.3 code has been applied for thermal hydraulic analysis of power reactors as well as nuclear research reactors with good predictions. The development and the assessment of a RELAP5 model for the IPR-R1 TRIGA have been validated for steady state and transient situations. The reactor is located at the Nuclear Technology Development Centre (CDTN), Brazil. It is a 250 kW, light water moderated and cooled, graphite-reflected, open pool type research reactor. In this work, an extreme transient case of loss of coolant accident (LOCA) has been simulated. For this type of analysis, the automatic scram of the reactor was not considered because the main aim was to verify the evolution of the fuel elements heating in the absence of coolant. The temperature evolutions are presented as well as an analysis about the temperature safety limits.