PACTEL and PWR PACTEL Test Facilities for Versatile LWR Applications

Abstract

This paper describes construction and experimental research activities with two test facilities, PACTEL and PWR PACTEL. The PACTEL facility, comprising of reactor pressure vessel parts, three loops with horizontal steam generators, a pressurizer, and emergency core cooling systems, was designed to model the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of VVER-440-type reactors. The facility has been utilized in miscellaneous applications and experiments, for example, in the OECD International Standard Problem ISP-33. PACTEL has been upgraded and modified on a case-by-case basis. The latest facility configuration, the PWR PACTEL facility, was constructed for research activities associated with the EPR-type reactor. A significant design basis is to utilize certain parts of PACTEL, and at the same time, to focus on a proper construction of two new loops and vertical steam generators with an extensive instrumentation. The PWR PACTEL benchmark exercise was launched in 2010 with a small break loss-of-coolant accident test as the chosen transient. Both facilities, PACTEL and PWR PACTEL, are maintained fully operational side by side.

System code analysis of accumulator nitrogen discharge during LOCA experiment at PWR PACTEL test facility

“…PWR PACTEL is a scaled down integral test facility designed to be used in safety studies related to thermal-hydraulics of PWRs with European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) type vertical inverted U-tube steam generators (Kouhia et al, 2012). The facility consists of a pressure vessel model, two loops (broken and intact loop) with vertical steam generators, a pressurizer, and emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) including nitrogen-driven accumulators.…”