HTGR Knowledge Base

Conference Article: Transient analysis of air ingress from broken pipe into the HTR-10 reactor pressure vessel

Abstract

The high temperature gas-cooled test reactor HTR-10 is a modular pebble bed core reactor. The spherical fuel elements are loaded and discharged continuously from the top to the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel(RPV) in operation. The rupture of a fuel handling tube is classified as one of the design basis accidents of HTR-10 reactor. After the accident of the rupture of a fuel handling tube, the RPV depressurizes speedily to the atmosphere in 3 minutes. Following the cooled helium of the reactor, air enters into the RPV and a natural convection will be built up. A numerical simulation of graphite oxidation is carried out by the OXIDE-RE code to analyze the consequences of the accident. The graphite oxidate reaction produces carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The concentration distributions of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and the graphite structure in the reactor are analyzed. Because of the relative lower temperature in the core throughout this accident, the amount of dioxide and oxygen production can meet the safety requirements. It is impossible to initiate denotation in HTR-10 reactor.

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Reference:

Technical committee meeting on response of fuel, fuel elements and gas cooled reactor cores under accidental air or water ingress conditions. Beijing (China). 25-27 Oct 1993

International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

IAEA-TECDOC--784, pp:69-72