OVERVIEW OF THE FLUME INTEGRAL EFFECTS AND SEPARATE EFFECTS TESTING AND ANALYSIS (FIESTA) FACILITY FOR INVESTIGATING CONTAINMENT DEBRIS TRANSPORT AND SUMP STRAINER HEAD LOSS

摘要

In support of an ongoing Generic Safety Issue 191 (GSI-191) experimental research initiative, the University of New Mexico (UNM) is constructing a flume testing facility capable of simulating the dominant phenomenology affecting debris transport and chemical effects at the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) sump pump strainer under safety injection and recirculation phase conditions immediately following a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The experimental facility, called the Flume Integral Effects and Separate effects Testing and Analysis facility (FIESTA), is designed to perform both integral effects and separate effects containment testing under post-LOCA conditions. The FIESTA facility is capable of investigating long-term debris transport phenomenology and chemical head loss in prototypical strainers under representative conditions that exist shortly after a pipe break. Initial tests performed at the FIESTA facility will utilize a full-scale strainer module provided by the South Texas Project (STP) at the sump side of the flume that is instrumented to measure time-dependent pressure drop data. This paper describes the capabilities of FIESTA including a description of the facility, current status, strategy for instrumentation and control, and future testing plan.