Consequence Analysis of Core Damage States Following Severe Accidents for the CANDU Reactor Design

Abstract

The analytical methodology used to evaluate severe accident sequences is described. The relevant thermal-mechanical phenomena and the mathematical approach used in calculating the timing of the accident progression and source term estimate are summarized. The postulated severe accidents analyzed, in general, mainly differ in the timing to reach and progress through each defined "core damage state". This paper presents the methodology and results of the timing and steam discharge calculations as well as source term estimate out of containment for accident sequences classified as potentially leading to core disassembly following a small break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) scenario as a specific example.