Development of Sirius facility that simulates void-reactivity feedback, and regional and core-wide stability estimation of natural circulation BWR

The SIRIUS facility was designed and constructed for highly accurate simulation of core-wide and regional instabilities of the BWR. A real-time simulation was performed in the digital controller for modal point kinetics of reactor neutronics and fuel-rod conduction on the basis of measured void fractions in reactor core sections of the thermal-hydraulic loop. Stability experiments were conducted for a wide range of fluid conditions, power distributions, and fuel rod thermal conductivity time constants, including the normal operating conditions of a typical natural circulation BWR. The results showed that there is a sufficiently wide stability margin under normal operating conditions, even when void-reactivity feedback is taken into account. (author)