Assessment of a PWR Control Rod Drop Transient with 3D Neutronic-Thermalhydraulic Coupled Codes RELAP5/ PARCSv2.7 and TRACEv5.0P3/PARCSv3.0 (NUREG/IA-0546)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: June 2023
Date Published: August 2024

Prepared by:
M. Garcia-Fenoll¹, A. Ortego1, J. A. Bermejo¹, A. Lopez², C. Mesado³, T. Barrachina³, R.Miró³,
B. Navarro³, G. Verdú³, A. Concejal<sup>2

1</sup>Almaraz-Trillo AIE
Av. Manoteras, 46Bis
28050 Madrid, SPAIN

²IBERDROLA
Calle Thomas Redondo1
28033 Madrid, SPAIN

³Institute for Industrial, Radiophysical, and Enviornmental Safety (ISIRYM)
Universitat Politecnica de València
Camí de Vera, s/n
46022 València, SPAIN

K. Tien, NRC Project Manager

Division of Systems Analysis
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

Prepared as part of:
The Agreement on Research Participation and Technical Exchange
Under the Thermal-Hydraulic Code Applications and Maintenance Program (CAMP)

Published by:
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

Availability Notice

Abstract

In the nuclear safety field, neutronic and thermal-hydraulic codes performance is an important issue. New capabilities implementation, models, and tools improvements are a significant part of the community effort in looking for better Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) designs.

A procedure to analyze the PWR response to local deviations on neutronic or thermalhydraulic parameters is being developed. By neutronic-thermalhydraulic coupled codes, Incore and Excore neutron flux detector signals are simulated. These signals are compared, on the one hand, with the actual data collected during a control rod drop test at a PWR NPP and, on the other hand, with data obtained with SIMULATE-3K code, an advanced, two-group nodal code that delivers neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analysis with licensing-grade accuracy. At the same time, the used codes and their new capabilities are validated. ​

The 3D neutronic-thermalhydraulic codes used in this study are ELAP5/PARCSv2.7 and  TRACEv5.0P3/PARCSv3.0. TRACEv5.0P3 and RELAP5 thermal-hydraulic models are fullcore detailed models with three different azimuthal zones. Besides, the TRACE model is performed with a fully 3D core composed of a cartesian vessel representing the fuel assemblies and a cylindrical vessel representing the bypass and downcomer. Cross-Section data are obtained from CASMO-4/SIMULATE-3 files using the SIMTAB methodology, which was developed at the Institute for Industrial, Radiophysical and Environmental Safety at Universitat Politècnica de València (ISIRYM-UPV) in collaboration with Iberdrola and has been validated for both PWR and BWR.