engleski

Core Degradation and Hydrogen Production During a Severe Accident

Public perception of nuclear power plants' (NPP) safety is a very important factor for the future of these plants. One of the most critical issues in public perception is the potential for the occurrence of severe accidents (SAs). Very complex physical, chemical and radiological phenomena take place during various stages of SAs. This paper will present analyses of the QUENCH-06 experiment performed in the QUENCH facility at the Karlsruhe Research Centre and a postulated station blackout (SBO) accident in NPP Krško, a two-loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) plant. Both analyses were done with the RELAP5/SCDAPSIM computer code. The objective of the QUENCH-06 experiment was to investigate the hydrogen source term and the behaviour of pre-oxidized fuel rods cladding upon cooling down with water. On the other hand, the analysis of the SBO accident was focused on the SA phenomena such as reactor core heat-up, cladding oxidation and subsequent core degradation and core melt progression due to inadequate core cooling.

severe accident; core degradation; hydrogen production

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