BOILING WATER REACTOR TRANSIENT INSTABILITY STUDIES OF RINGHALS 1 REACTOR USING TRACE COUPLED WITH PARCS
Open Access
- Author:
- Walls, Robert Allen
- Graduate Program:
- Nuclear Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- None
- Committee Members:
- Kostadin Nikolov Ivanov, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Kostadin Nikolov Ivanov, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- BWR Instabilities
Ringhals
TRACE - Abstract:
- Reactor plant design often incorporates data and insight ascertained from computer code simulations of plant dynamics and reactor core behavior. Increasing utilization of data gathered from simulations aids operators and designers in planning for overall plant operation and most importantly, safety. The United States (US) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in researching reactor plant safety utilizes several computer codes, or models. The two codes used for work on this thesis are TRACE and PARCS. TRACE (TRAC RELAP5 Advanced Computational Engine) is a thermal-hydraulic code that models the coolant system under numerous variables in operating conditions. Coolant flow is especially important and the ability to model two-phase flow is essential in modeling boiling water reactors. Two-phase flow modeling is integral as it models the vast differences in flow from the bottom of the core to the top at the steam separators. TRACE has the ability to reproduce these essential parameters. PARCS (Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator) is a multi-dimensional reactor kinetics code. TRACE coupled with PARCS has the computing power to provide accurate coupled power and flow distributions under various reactor transients or casualties. TRACE/PARCS was previously validated for use with Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) transient analysis using the OECD/NEA Main Steam Line Break Benchmark. This thesis focuses on the evaluation of Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) transient analysis, mainly the NEA Ringhals 1 Stability Benchmark from 1996. This benchmark performed a series of tests on the Ringhals 1 reactor during the beginning of cycles 14, 15, 16, and 17. Three techniques for initiating instabilities (pressure perturbation, control rod perturbation, and simulated noise) were performed on each test point during each cycle. The steady state data as well as the transient results predicted by TRACE/PARCS reasonably agree with the measured data from the NEA Ringhals 1 Stability Benchmark.