Sensitivity Analysis of the Response of PWR Containment During a Loss of Coolant Accident Using RELAP5-3D and MELCOR

The prediction of specific parameters for the reactor containment, such as pressure and sump pool temperature, is of paramount importance when studying the thermal-hydraulic phenomena involved in the debris generation, transport, and accumulation during Loss of Coolant Accidents (LOCA). The response of the reactor containment during these events may significantly vary depending of several factors such as break size and location, and other plant-specific features. When modeling the reactor and containment response using systems codes, the predictions may also depend on the selection of physical models, correlations and their coefficients. A sensitivity analysis of the response of a typical Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) 4-loop reactor system and associated containment during a large break LOCA was conducted using RELAP5-3D and MELCOR to investigate the influence of geometrical parameters (break location), physical models (chiked flow models), and related coefficients (discharge coefficient at the break), on the containment response. The simulation results showed how the containment response changed by varying the selected parameters and confirmed the importance of identifying and studying the factors triggering the containment engineered features (containment sprays) when simulation the containment response.