Evaluation of advanced thermohydraulic system codes for design and safety analysis of integral type reactors

The integral pressurised water reactor (PWR) concept, which incorporates the nuclear steam supply systems within the reactor vessel, is one of the innovative reactor types with high potential for near term deployment. An International Collaborative Standard Problem (ICSP) on Integral PWR Design, Natural Circulation Flow Stability and Thermohydraulic Coupling of Primary System and Containment during Accidents was established in 2010. Oregon State University, which made available the use of its experimental facility built to demonstrate the feasibility of the Multi-application Small Light Water Reactor (MASLWR) design, and sixteen institutes from seven Member States participated in this ICSP. The objective of the ICSP is to assess computer codes for reactor system design and safetyanalysis. This objective is achieved through the production of experimental data and computer code simulation of experiments. A loss of feedwater transient with subsequent automatic depressurization system blowdown and long term cooling was selected as the reference event since many different modes of natural circulation phenomena, including the coupling of primary system, high pressure containment and cooling pool are expected to occur during this transient. The power maneuvering transient is also tested to examine the stability of natural circulation during the single and two phase conditions.