An Experimental Investigation on Thermal-Hydraulic Interaction Between Core Makeup Tank and Safety Injection Tank of an Integral Small Reactor During a Small Break Loss-of-Coolant Accident

Abstract

A passive injection test was conducted using a core makeup tank (CMT), a safety injection tank (SIT) and an automatic depressurization system (ADS), which consists of a passive safety system (PSS) of the SMART reactor. This paper investigates the thermal-hydraulic interaction between CMT and SIT during sequential injections of coolant from these two tanks to a high-temperature and high-pressure reactor pressure vessel using an integral effect test facility of SMART-ITL (System-Integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor-Integral Test Loop). Both CMT and SIT were connected to the reactor pressure vessel by a pressure balance line (PBL) and injection line (IL). A steady-state condition was maintained for 1,000 seconds before the start of the injection. The major parameters agreed well with the target value. After one of safety injection system line was simulated to be broken, a transient injection test was conducted according to the small-break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) scenario. Coolant injections from a CMT and SIT were started sequentially by opening quick-opening valves installed on the IL and PBL piping, respectively. Several thermal-hydraulic phenomena such as direct contact condensation, thermal stratification, and coupling effects between the CMT and SIT were locally observed during the SBLOCA scenario. The results show that the adopted passive safety injection system functions well as an emergency core cooling system.