Thermalhydraulic analysis of Candu 6 100% reactor outlet header break using RELAP5 code

One of the postulated large break losses of coolant accident (LBLOCA) in a Candu reactor is the Reactor Outlet Header (ROH) break. After such an event, the normal coolant flow in the channels downstream the break is disrupted and late stagnation occurs after the pump head is degraded and before emergency core cooling (ECC) injection takes place. Given that the fuel decay and stored energy decreased significantly by that time, the heatup of the fuel sheath is much lower than in the case of 35% Reactor Inlet Header (RIH) break. However, the coolant pressure is much lower than the corresponding one at the 35% RIH break.The combination of a high fuel clad temperature and coolant low-pressure lead to more fuel failure events. Thus, the 100% ROH break has the highest potential for radioactivity release. The paper presents the thermal hydraulic analyses of a 100% reactor outlet header break. The study is done with RELAP5/SCDAP mod 3.4 and the results were compared with those of CATHENA. RELAP5 predicts a slightly faster inventory loss, an extended flow stagnation period and a higher clad temperature