MELCOR Computer Code Manuals - Demonstration Problems Version 1.8.5 May 2001 (NUREG/CR-6119, Volume 3)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: May 2001
Date Published: September 2001

Prepared by:
R.O. Gauntt, R.K. Cole, C.M. Erickson, R.G. Gido, R-D. Gasser,
S.B. Rodriguez, M.F. Young, S. Ashbaugh, M. Leonard, A. Hill

Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, NM 87185-0739

Prepared for:
Division of Systems Analysis and Regulatory Effectiveness
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

NRC Job Code W6203

Availability Notice

Abstract

MELCOR is a fully integrated, engineering-level computer code that models the progression of severe accidents in light-water reactor nuclear power plants. MELCOR is being developed at Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as a second-generation plant risk assessment tool and the successor to the Source Term Code package. A broad spectrum of severe accident phenomena in both boiling and pressurized water reactors is treated in MELCOR in a unified framework. These include thermal-hydraulic response in the reactor coolant system (RCS), reactor cavity, containment, and confinement buildings; core heatup, degradation, and relocation; core-concrete attack; hydrogen production, transport, and combustion; fission product release and transport behavior. Current uses of MELCOR include estimation of severe accident source terms and their sensitivities and uncertainties in a variety of applications.

This publication of the MELCOR computer code manuals corresponds to MELCOR 1.8.5, released to users in July 2000. Volume 1 contains a primer that describes MELCOR's phenomenological scope, organization (by package), and documentation. The remainder of Volume 1 contains the MELCOR User's Guides, which provide the input instructions and guidelines for each package. Volume 2 contains the MELCOR Reference Manuals, which describe the phenomenological models that have been implemented in each package. A new volume, Volume 3 of this publication, presents a portfolio of test and sample problems consisting of both analyses of experiments and of full plant problems. These analyses will be repeated with future releases of MELCOR in order to provide a metric on code predictions as new versions are released.