Summary
In March 2015, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with South Korea to build the system‐integrated modular advanced reactor (SMART) originally developed by the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute. The SMART is a structurally contained safe dual‐purpose power plant reactor that produces both electricity and desalination. This study aims to design a double‐containment structure with a pool‐type concept to enhance the SMART safety and develop a robust design for future modular reactors. For that purpose, a theoretical model is developed herein, which leads to the modeling of a double‐containment structural design of a water pool. The model calculates various parameters (ie, temperature, pressure, phasic velocities, and condensable gases) and is used to develop a simulation program for use in a computational assessment. Moreover, two best‐estimate thermal hydraulic engineering programs, namely THEATRe and RELAP5, are used to simulate the original SMART with the double‐containment water pool structure. The differences in the modeling strategies of the two simulation techniques are discussed to accurately measure various technical parameters. Accordingly, a nodalization diagram of the reactor and the pool‐type concept are developed and simulated. The results obtained from the computational models yield the error of >2%, depicting accuracy. A small‐break loss of coolant accident is also simulated to mitigate the transient conditions. The result verifies the adoptability of this reactor concept in any other small modular reactor.