An experimental study on effective depressurization actions for PWR vessel bottom small break LOCA with HPI failure and gas inflow (ROSA-V test SB-PV-04)

A small break loss-of-coolant accident (SBLOCA) experiment was conducted at the Large Scale Test Facility (LSTF) of ROSA-V program to study effects of accident management (AM) measures on core cooling, which are important in case of total failure of high pressure injection (HPI) system during an SBLOCA at a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The LSTF is a full-height and 1/48 volume-scaled facility simulating a 4-loop Westing-house-type PWR (3423 MWt). The experiment, SB-PV-04, simulated a PWR vessel bottom SBLOCA with a rupture of ten instrument-tubes which is equivalent to 0.2% cold leg break. It is clarified that AM actions with steam generator (SG) rapid depressurization by fully opening relief valves and auxiliary feedwater supply are effective to avoid core uncovery by actuating the low pressure injection (LPI) system though the primary depressurization is degraded by non-condensable gas inflow to the primary loops from the accumulator injection system. The effective core cooling was established by the rapid depressurization which contributed to preserve larger primary coolant mass than in the previous experiment (SB-PV-03) which was conducted with smaller primary cooling rate of -55 K/h as AM actions. (author)