PACTEL experiments for investigation of passive safety injection systems of advanced light water reactors

An important aspect of Advanced Light Water Reactors (ALWRs) decay heat removal concerns the plant response under Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) conditions. In ALWRs, e.g. Westinghouse AP600, pump driven Emergency Core Cooling Systems (ECCS) are replaced by passive safety injection systems, which are gravity driven. It is therefore important that in such accidents, the ALWR coolant system pressure can be controlled to allow gravity fed injection to take place. The safety issue here is whether undesirable system responses could occur in any circumstances. Additionally, it is necessary to prove that the plant always depressurizes sufficiently for the ECCS to operate efficiently. Two experimental series have been carried out with the PACTEL integral test facility on the simulation of passive safety injection systems of ALWRs in accidental conditions. The safety system investigated was a passive core make-up tank (CMT), which was connected to the downcomer of the test facility. This paper starts with a short description of the PACTEL test facility and a summary of the results of the passive safety injection tests on PACTEL. Also included is a summary of the results of the computer simulations of the tests. The second part of the paper consists of a description of the planned third passive safety injection test series and the results of the pre-test simulations of the planned tests.