OECD/NEA Main Steam Line Break PWR Benchmark Simulation by TRACE/S3K Coupled Code

Abstract

A coupling between the TRACE system thermal-hydraulics code and the SIMULATE-3K (S3K) three-dimensional reactor kinetics code has been developed in a collaboration between the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) and Studsvik. In order to verify the coupling scheme and the coupled code capabilities with regards to plant transients, the OECD/NEA Main Steam Line Break PWR benchmark was simulated with the coupled TRACE/S3K code. The core/plant system data were taken from the benchmark specifications, while the nuclear data were generated with the Studsvik’s lattice code CASMO-4 and the core analysis code SIMULATE-3. The TRACE/S3K results were compared with the published results obtained by the 17 participants of the benchmark. The comparison shows that the TRACE/S3K code reproduces satisfactory the main transient parameters, namely, the power and reactivity history, steam generator inventory, and pressure response.