Development of Numerical Analysis Methods for Natural Circulation Decay Heat Removal System Applied to a Large Scale JSFR

Abstract

A decay heat removal system utilizing passive natural circulation is applied to a large scale Japan Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor. As preparing for the future licensing, a one-dimensional flow network method and a three-dimensional numerical analysis method were developed to evaluate core cooling capability and thermal transient under decay heat removal modes after reactor trip. The one-dimensional method was applied to a water test simulating the primary system of the reactor, while the three-dimensional method was applied to the water test and a sodium test focusing on the decay heat removal system. The numerical results of both methods have turned out to agree well with the test results. And then the thermal-hydraulic behavior under a typical decay heat removal mode of the reactor has been predicted by the three-dimensional method.