Problem Issues of Cores Thermal-Hydraulic Calculation for Prospective Water-Cooled Reactors with Supercritical Parameters

І. G. Sharaevsky, N. М. Fіаlkо, А. V. Nоsоvskyi,
L. B. Zimin, Т. S. Vlasenko, G. І. Sharaevsky

Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants,
NAS of Ukraine, 12, Lysogirska st., Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine

DOI: doi.org/10.31717/2311-8253.20.4.1

Abstract

The fundamental thermophysical features of the heat exchange process between the heated wall of a vertical channel and the light-water coolant of supercritical parameters concerning the conditions of heat-generating assemblies channels and cores of perspective energy nuclear reactors are considered. The available methods and recommendations for determining the limits of thermal load are analyzed. It is a guarantee the absence of the characteristic dangerous mode possibility of deteriorated heat exchange in these conditions and corresponding sharp rise in the channels wall temperature, which threatens their destruction. The physical nature of the occurrence of degraded heat transfer regimes remains unclear, and the existing approaches to the implementation of thermohydraulic calculation in such conditions are not sufficiently justified. The complex nature of intercellular heat and mass transfer in the fuel assembly and the presence of individual thermohydraulic cells with reduced levels of heat transfer intensity indicate that the existing method of determining the area of degraded heat transfer in the reactor core channels with supercritical parameters of the coolant is significantly simplified. Insufficient data and research results have been revealed to create adequate methods of heat-hydraulic calculation, suitable for taking into account the peculiarities of the heat transfer process complex flow under conditions of supercritical parameters of the coolant. The application of such methods should be the basis for ensuring the safe operation of prospective reactors and minimizing potential losses of a different nature from accidents caused by the destruction of cores through unacceptable heat transfer modes. To this end, the main direction of further research is identified.

Keywords: light-water nuclear reactor, supercritical parameters, fuel assembly, deteriorated heat exchange, channel wall temperature, heat load.

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