An Evaluation of a General Venting Strategy in CANDU 6 Reactor Building

If the reactor building sprays or local air coolers are not available, depressurization by reactor building venting is considered as a useful mitigation strategy for a severe accident management of the Wolsong plants. As the CFVS is not established in the Wolsong Units, the reactor building isolation system can be a substitute for reactor building venting. The D2O Vapour recovery system which has a 30' diameter penetration is expected to meet the NRC requirements. To investigate the effectiveness of the Reactor Building Venting Strategy, three kinds of accidents are analyzed: a SBO, a SLOCA and a Large LOCA. The reactor building pressure behavior was analyzed with ISAAC 2.0.2 for four different cases: without venting, 55psig/50psig, 50psig/40psig and 50psig/30psig valve open/close pressures. It was found that applying venting for a SBO reduces the mass fraction of the CsI released to the environment by 67.8% (valve open/close pressure of 55psig/50psig), by 64.4% (valve open/close pressure of 50psig/40psig) and by 63.5% (valve open/close pressure of 50psig/30psig). For a SLOCA, venting strategy reduces the mass fraction of the CsI by 58.3% (valve open/close pressure of 55psig/50psig), by 55.0% (valve open/close pressure 50psig/40psig) and by 48.3% (valve open/close pressure 50psig/30psig). For a LLOCA, reactor building venting reduces the mass fraction of the CsI released to the environment by less than 10% when compared to that without reactor building venting. When the reactor building spray or local air coolers can not be operated, a depressurization strategy by using the D2O Vapour Recovery System could prevent a reactor building failure and reduce the amount of CsI released to the environment. The present study shows that the operation of valves at a pressure of 55psig/50psig is safe and effective. Based on the current study, the strategy of reactor building venting is involved SAMG-5