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RELAP5 Analysis of Gravity-Driven Core-Cooling Experiments with Pactel

Reijo Munther, Juhani Vihavainen, Heikki Kalli, Jyrki Kouhia, Vesa Riikonen

Nuclear Technology / Volume 119 / Number 3 / September 1997 / Pages 235-243

Technical Paper / Nuclear Reactor Safety / dx.doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35400

The RELAP5 calculation results for a series of gravity-driven emergency core-cooling (ECC) experiments with the parallel channel test loop (PACTEL) facility are provided. The simulated accident was a small-break loss-of-coolant accident with a break in one hot leg of the three loops of the facility. The ECC flow was provided from a core makeup tank (CMT) located at a higher elevation than the main part of the primary system. The CMT was pressurized with pipings from the pressurizer and a cold leg. The tests indicate that rapid condensation in the CMT influences the ECC flow. The experimental results are numerically analyzed using the RELAP5/MOD3.1 code. The calculations show good agreement with the tests except in the modeling of rapid condensation.