Thermalhydraulic Analysis of Containments

Abstract

Functional requirements for nuclear reactor containment performance are described in context of the need for thermalhydraulic calculations. Capabilities of containment codes, which are currently available in the USA, are surveyed with the view of identifying a tool for the utility industry which can be used for design, licensing and equipment qualification applications. Reasons for choosing the COBRA-NC code as a starting point are provided, along with a description of modeling changes which have been made to yield the GOTHIC code. The results of three validation calculations of large scale containment system experiments are described, and differences caused by lumped parameter versus distributed parameter noding are discussed.