Effectiveness of Core Exit Thermocouple (CET) Temperature Indication in Accident Management of Light Water Reactors

Abstract

The working group on Analysis and Management of Accidents (WGAMA) of the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) of OECD-NEA had a task on the effectiveness of CET indication in accident management (AM) of light water reactors (LWR). The task collected and reviewed the design basis of CET application for AM procedures through a survey of the CET use in the NEA member countries, and reviewed pertinent experimental results from such test facilities as LOFT, ROSA/LSTF, PKL and PSB-VVER focusing on the time delay in CET from core temperature rise. Scaling issues were discussed considering extrapolation of experimental results to LWR. This paper summarizes major outcomes of the task and indicates possible future work.