Harsh environment testing at NEI-IRD

The Harsh Environment Test Facility (HETF) was designed and constructed by and is currently operated by NEI-IRD in Newcastle upon Tyne, England under contract to Sizewell B Project Management Team. The HETF comprises a horizontal cylindrical test chamber 2.6m long and 1.4m diameter. The test chamber is equipped with steam and air supplies, a chemical spray, and automatic control and data-logging systems. Safety classified equipment which is intended for use within the reactor building of a PWR must be qualified by a series of processes, usually ending with a Harsh Environment (HE) Test. The temperature and pressure profiles envelope the conditions which, it has been calculated, would occur after a design basis fault (DBF) such as a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) or high energy line break (HELB). The facility was commissioned in September 1987 using a stainless steel test box measuring 300mm x 450mm x 600mm and with mass 120kg and external area 1.17m2 as a test sample. Commissioning tests demonstrated that the facility was capable of performing according to its specification. Subsequently, it has been shown that the facility can meet the specified temperature and pressure profiles with specimens having a total mass of approximately 480kg and surface area 2.25m2 (excluding support frames). Tests have also been carried out which have demonstrated that the facility can produce the specified profiles with very much smaller specimens having masses of the order of 1kg and surface areas of approximately 25 x 10-3m2