A simple method for estimating potential source term bypass fractions from confinement structures

Confinement structures house many of the operating processes at the Savannah River Site (SRS). Under normal operating conditions, a confinement structure in conjunction with its associated ventilation systems prevents the release of radiological material to the environment. However, under potential accident conditions, the performance of the ventilation systems and integrity of the structure may be challenged. In order to calculate the radiological consequences associated with a potential accident (e.g. fires, explosion, spills, etc.), it is necessary to determine the fraction of the source term initially generated by the accident that escapes from the confinement structure to the environment. While it would be desirable to estimate the potential bypass fraction using sophisticated control-volume/flow path computer codes (e.g. CONTAIN, MELCOR, etc.) in order to take as much credit as possible for the mitigative effects of the confinement structure, there are many instances where using such codes is not tractable due to limits on the level-of-effort allotted to perform the analysis. Moreover, the current review environment, with its emphasis on deterministic/bounding-versus probabilistic/best-estimate-analysis discourages using analytical techniques that require the consideration of a large number of parameters. Discussed herein is a simplified control-volume/flow path approach for calculating source term bypass fraction that is amenable to solution in a spreadsheet or with a commercial mathematical solver (e.g. MathCad or Mathematica). It considers the effects of wind and fire pressure gradients on the structure, ventilation system operation, and Halon discharges. Simple models are used to characterize the engineered and non-engineered flow paths. By making judicious choices for the limited set of problem parameters, the results from this approach can be defended as bounding and conservative