Analysis of Severe Accident Management Strategy for a BWR-4 Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract

The Chinshan nuclear power plant (NPP) is a Mark-I boiling water reactor (BWR) NPP located in northern Taiwan. The Chinshan NPP severe accident management guidelines (SAMGs) were developed based on the BWR Owners Group Emergency Procedure Guidelines/Severe Accident Guidelines and were developed at the end of 2003. The MAAP4 code has been used as a tool to validate the SAMG strategies. The development process and characteristics of the Chinshan SAMGs are described. The T₅U_tX_C sequence, the highest core damage frequency in the probabilistic risk assessment insight of the Chinshan NPP, is cited as a reference case for SAMG validation. Not all safety injection systems are operated in the T₅U_tX_C sequence. The severe accident progression is simulated, and the entry condition of the SAMGs is described. Then, the T₅U_tX_C sequence is simulated with reactor pressure vessel (RPV) depressurization. Mitigation actions based on the Chinshan NPP SAMGs are then applied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the SAMGs. Sensitivity studies on RPV depressurization with the reactor water level and minimum RPV injection flow rate are also investigated in this study. Based on MAAP4 calculation and the default values of the parameters calculating the severe accident phenomena, the result shows that RPV depressurization before the reactor water level reaches one-fourth of the core water level can prevent the core from damage in the T₅U_tX_C sequence. The flow rate of two control rod drive pumps is enough to maintain the reactor water level above the top of active fuel and cool down the core in the T₅U_tX_C sequence without operator action.