Experimental and Analytical Modeling of Natural Circulation and Forced Circulation BWRs
Author: Masahiro Furuya
Publisher: IOS Press
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 148
ISBN-13: 9781586036058
DOWNLOAD EBOOK20% of the Nuclear Power Plants are known as Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs). These BWRs have pumps that cool their reactor. In the design of new BWRs, ways to cool the core by a natural circulation flow, without pumps, also called natural circulation BWRs, are being considered. In these new systems, a chimney is installed on top of the core to increase natural circulation flow. A possible disadvantage of natural circulation BWRs might be their susceptibility to instabilities, which could then lead to both flow and power oscillations. The stability features of both natural circulation and forced circulation BWRs have been investigated thoroughly, using dedicated experimental setups, analytical models and numerical codes. We distinguish between pure thermal-hydraulic stability - where the fission power is assumed to be constant - and coupled thermalhydraulic-neutronic stability - where the two-phase mixture in the core influences the fission chain reaction...