Statistical analysis of fuel failures in large break loss-of-coolant accident (LBLOCA) in EPR type nuclear power plant

Asko Arkoma (Corresponding Author), Markku Hänninen, Karin Rantamäki, Joona Kurki, Anitta Hämäläinen

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    27 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this paper, the number of failing fuel rods in a large break loss-of-coolant accident (LB-LOCA) in EPR-type nuclear power plant is evaluated using statistical methods. For this purpose, a statistical fuel failure analysis procedure has been developed. The developed method utilizes the results of nonparametric statistics, the Wilks' formula in particular, and is based on the selection and variation of parameters that are important in accident conditions. The accident scenario is simulated with the coupled fuel performance - thermal hydraulics code FRAPTRAN-GENFLO using various parameter values and thermal hydraulic and power history boundary conditions between the simulations. The number of global scenarios is 59 (given by the Wilks' formula), and 1000 rods are simulated in each scenario. The boundary conditions are obtained from a new statistical version of the system code APROS. As a result, in the worst global scenario, 1.2% of the simulated rods failed, and it can be concluded that the Finnish safety regulations are hereby met (max. 10% of the rods allowed to fail).
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-14
    JournalNuclear Engineering and Design
    Volume285
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Keywords

    • loss-of-coolant accident
    • EPR
    • Wilks' formula
    • FRAPTRAN-GENFLO
    • APROS
    • statistical fuel failure analysis

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