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Analysis of a Hot-Leg Small Break Loss-of-Coolant Accident in a Three-Loop Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor Plant

Craig E. Peterson, V. K. (Bindi) Chexal, Talmage B. Clements

Nuclear Technology / Volume 70 / Number 1 / July 1985 / Pages 104-110

Technical Paper / Third International Retran Meeting / Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow / dx.doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A33668

The RETRAN-02 computer code was used to perform a best-estimate analysis of a 7.52-cm-diam hot-leg break in a three-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactor. This break size produced a net primary coolant mass depletion through the early portion of the transient. The primary system started to refill only after the accumulator valves opened. As the primary system refilled, there were extreme temperature differentials around the system with cold, denser fluid collecting at the lower elevations and two-phase fluid at higher elevations.