Transient Analysis for Design of Primary Coolant Pump Adopted to JAERI Passive Safety Reactor JPSR

Abstract

In a course of a design study of the JAERI passive safety pressurized water reactor (JPSR), a complete loss-of-flow transient caused by a trip of all pumps was analyzed with the RETRAN code to determine an inertia of canned-motor pump utilized as the primary coolant pump and to confirm feasibility of the design condition. This transient was selected because the pump had a low inertia rotor inducing fast flow coastdown, and among the transients in which the pump had dominant effect on the departure from nucleate boiling (DNB), the analyzed transient was severest in view of the DNB occurrence. The DNB threshold was related, based on sensitivity calculations, with the coolant density reactivity coefficient and the pump inertia. From the calculations, it was concluded that the pump inertia higher than 250 kg•m² (8% of the ordinary PWRs) was necessary for preventing the DNB occurrence for the present design of JPSR, regardless of the actuation of the reactor scram. The DNB occurrence could be prevented only by the inherent nature of the reactor core which reduced the power by insertion of negative coolant density reactivity during the transient and this was one of major features of JPSR. It was shown by a rough estimation that the necessary condition could be practically realized by incorporation of a cylindrical-type flywheel.