Study on In-Vessel Retention (IVR) Strategy for CPR1000

Abstract

The study on IVR (In-Vessel Retention) strategy for CPR1000 is introduced. For CPR1000, preliminary results showed that the RPV (Reactor Pressure Vessel) failure is the dominated by thermal failure mode and the IVR success probabilityis about 99%. The risk of steam explosion, which may happen with an extremely low probability due to corium-water interaction in the cavity if RPV fails, was however analyzed. Preliminary results showed that the CPR1000 containment will maintain integrity even though a steam explosion occurs. For detailed analysis, a test setup designed to gain the CHF (Critical Heat Flux) data for CPR1000 is under construction and planed to be completed at mid 2011. The characteristics of the test setup are introduced.