Channel blockage accident analysis for research reactors with MTR- type fuel elements

It is the purpose of this study to investigate the feasibility of removing the residual decay heat from core of TR-2 ,which is a pool-type research reactor, after a channel blockage accident event and to identify the principal factors involved in cooling process. To analyze this accident scenery, THEAP-I computer code, which is a single phase transient 3-D structure/1-D flow thermal hydraulics code developed with the aim to contribute mainly to the safety analysis of the open pool research reactors, was modified and used. All of the analysis results figured out the fact that the core melting was inevitable in case of an uninterrupted operation (continuous operation) preceding a channel blockage accident of the TR-2 Reactor. Such a result will even be met if the blockage occurs only in a single fuel element. The results of analysis are expressed in terms of temperature field distribution as a function of time