On the effect of accident conditions on the molten core debris relocation into lower head of a PWR vessel

From 1975 to present, it has been found that the primary risk to the public health and safety from nuclear power reactors lies in "beyond design basis" accidents. During such severe accidents, melting of the reactor core may lead to a loss of primary system integrity, or even containment failure, which will allow escape of significant amounts of radioactive material to the environment. It is very important to understand the mechanism of reactor core degradation during a severe accident.; In this study, the damage progression of the reactor core and the slumping mechanism of molten material to the lower head of the reactor vessel were examined through simulation of severe accident scenarios that lead to large-scale core damage. The calculations were carried out using the computer code SCDAP/RELAP5.; Different modeling parameters or models were used in calculations by version MOD3.2. The cladding oxidation shell "durability" parameter, which can control the timing of fuel clad failure, was varied. The heat flux model of steady-state natural convection of the molten pool was changed. The ultimate strength of the crust supporting the molten pool was doubled. These changes were made to examine the effects on the calculated core damage, and the molten pool expansion and its slumping.; Different accident scenarios were simulated. The HPI/makeup flow rates were changed. The timing of opening and closing the PORV was considered. Reflood by restart of coolant pump 2B was also studied. Finally, the size of the PORV opening was also changed. The effects of these accident scenarios on accident progression and core damage process were studied.; From the calculated results, it was concluded that the accurate modeling of core damage phenomena was very important to the prediction of the later stage of an accident. According to code MOD3.2, the molten material in a pool slumped to the lower head of the reactor vessel when the juncture of the top and side crusts failed after the molten pool had reached the periphery of the core. The changes of reactor coolant system pressure contributed to the crust failure.