Evaluation of the Leakage Behavior of Inflatable Seals Subject to Severe Accident Conditions.

摘要

The report describes tests to determine the leakage behavior of inflatable seals. Inflatable seals are used to prevent leakage around personnel and escape lock doors of some containments. They are either currently installed or planned for use in thirteen commercial nuclear power plant containment structures in the U.S. All of the installations are in PWR or BWR Mark-III containments. This work is a part of an overall effort at Sandia National Laboratories to develop proven techniques for evaluating the performance of LWR containment buildings for beyond design basis loadings. Inflatable seals were tested at both room temperature and at elevated temperatures representative of postulated severe accident conditions. Parameters that were monitored and recorded during the tests were the internal seal pressure, chamber pressure, leakage past the seals, and temperature of the test chamber and fixture to which the seals were attached. A general procedure, which covers a broad range of seal pressures and temperatures, has been developed to predict the containment pressure at which significant leakage past inflatable seals can be expected.