Analysis of reactivity accidents in modular htgrs

Jacob P. Gorton, Nicholas R. Brown

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

A control rod withdrawal (CRW) is a possible reactivity initiated accident (RIA) in modular high-temperature gascooled reactors (mHTGRs). The purpose of this study is to perform a sensitivity analysis of a CRW event in an mHTGR model using the systems code RELAP5-3D with point kinetics feedback to demonstrate the impact of uncertainty in heat transfer and reactor kinetic parameters. The adaptive Sobol decomposition method in the uncertainty quantification code RAVEN is used to perform the sensitivity study and to determine which input parameters have the greatest impact on the figures of merit, which in this case are peak reactor power and maximum fuel temperature. This study addresses a need highlighted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for transient fuel testing by quantifying the impact of uncertainty in heat transfer and reactor kinetic parameters and by generating potential boundary conditions for transient testing of conventional mHTGR fuel.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationStudent Paper Competition; Thermal-Hydraulics; Verification and Validation
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Print)9784888982566
StatePublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes
Event2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, ICONE 2020, collocated with the ASME 2020 Power Conference - Virtual, Online
Duration: Apr 4 2020Apr 5 2020

Publication series

NameInternational Conference on Nuclear Engineering, Proceedings, ICONE
Volume3

Conference

Conference2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, ICONE 2020, collocated with the ASME 2020 Power Conference
CityVirtual, Online
Period04/4/2004/5/20

Keywords

  • Control rod withdrawal
  • MHTGR
  • Reactivity initiated accident
  • Transient analysis

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