Reactor Fault Simulation at the Closure of the Windscale Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor: Analysis of Reactor Transient Tests

摘要

The testing of fault transient analysis methods by direct simulation of fault sequences on a commercial reactor is clearly excluded on safety and economic grounds. The closure of the Windscale prototype advanced gas-cooled reactor (WAGR) therefore offered a unique opportunity to test fault study methods under extreme conditions relatively unfettered by economic constraints, although subject to appropriate safety regulations. One aspect of these important experiments was a series of reactor transient tests. The objective of these reactor transients was to increase confidence in the fault study computer models used for commercial AGR safety assessment by extending their range of validation to cover large amplitude and fast transients in temperature, power and flow, relevant to CAGR faults, and well beyond the conditions achievable experimentally on commercial reactors. A large number of tests have now been simulated with the fault study code KINAGRAX. Agreement with measurement is very good and sensitivity studies show that such discrepancies as exist may be due largely to input data errors. It is concluded that KINAGRAX is able to predict steady state conditions and transient amplitudes in both power and temperature to within a few percent. (Atomindex citation 17:007053)