Towards an enhanced accident management of the hydrogen/co combustion risk

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Nuclear power plants are designed to minimise the risk of radiological releases. In addition, severe accident management guidelines (SAMGs) have been developed and implemented to provide operators with a systematic guidance on mitigatory actions. Building on these guidelines, the EU-funded AMHYCO project will consider practical issues to further reduce (as much as possible) the threat posed by combustion of gases generated during accidents on containment integrity. Specifically, it will improve the SAMGs for both in-vessel and ex-vessel phases using numerical and experimental results. It will also experimentally study the phenomena that are difficult to predict numerically (such as H2/CO/H20 distribution and combustion). A third goal will be to improve the predictability of the numerical tools used for explosion hazard evaluation.

Three specific objectives are set:

  • To improve the Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMGs) for both in-vessel and ex-vessel phases with respect to combustible gases risk management, using both numerical and experimental results.
  • To investigate experimentally phenomena that are difficult to predict numerically: H2/CO/H2O distribution and combustion and PARs behavior under realistic accidental conditions, taking into account the safety systems interaction.
  • To improve the predictability of the numerical tools – Lumped Parameter (LP), 3D containment and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) codes – used for explosion hazard evaluation inside the reactor containment to gain relevance in supporting SAMGs design and development.

The scope of this project is outlined by the most common reactor technology in the EU: PWRs. The whole project is structured in 7 WPs (coordination included) in which an entire WP is to be devoted to the enhancement of SAMGs. Finally, AMHYCO has received the NUGENIA label and 9 organizations have shown their interest with support letters.

Project beneficiaries from Ukraine:

  • LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ENERGORISK
  • INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE

Project coordinator:

UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID (SPAIN)

Project description on EU web-site: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/945057