The paper studies influence the ageing effects on the failure of a Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) during a severe accident with a core meltdown in a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The studied plant is a generic high-power Generation III Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) developed in the frame of the EU NARSIS project. A Total Station Blackout (SBO) accident was simulated with MELCOR 2.2 severe accident integral computer code. Results of the analysis, temperatures in the lower head and pressures in the lower plenum were used as initial and boundary conditions for the Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations. Two FEM models were developed, a simple two-dimensional axis-symmetric model of the lower head to study fundamental phenomena and complex 3D model to include interactions with the RPV and reactor internals. Ageing effects of a lower head were incorporated into the FEM models to investigate its influence onto lower head response. The ageing phenomena are modelled in terms of degraded mechanical material properties as s(T), E(T). The primary outcome of the study is the quantitative estimation of the influence of ageing process onto the timing of reactor vessel failure. Presented novel methodology and results can have an impact on future consideration about Long-Term Operation (LTO) of NPPs

Study of the Ageing Effects on the Lower Head Failure in a PWR Reactor

Lo Frano, R.
Primo
Conceptualization
;
Paci, S.
Writing – Review & Editing
;
2020-01-01

Abstract

The paper studies influence the ageing effects on the failure of a Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) during a severe accident with a core meltdown in a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The studied plant is a generic high-power Generation III Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) developed in the frame of the EU NARSIS project. A Total Station Blackout (SBO) accident was simulated with MELCOR 2.2 severe accident integral computer code. Results of the analysis, temperatures in the lower head and pressures in the lower plenum were used as initial and boundary conditions for the Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations. Two FEM models were developed, a simple two-dimensional axis-symmetric model of the lower head to study fundamental phenomena and complex 3D model to include interactions with the RPV and reactor internals. Ageing effects of a lower head were incorporated into the FEM models to investigate its influence onto lower head response. The ageing phenomena are modelled in terms of degraded mechanical material properties as s(T), E(T). The primary outcome of the study is the quantitative estimation of the influence of ageing process onto the timing of reactor vessel failure. Presented novel methodology and results can have an impact on future consideration about Long-Term Operation (LTO) of NPPs
2020
978-0-7918-8376-1
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/1056521
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 1
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact