TRAC (Transient Reactor Analysis Code) model of reactor vent paths

The Safety Methods group of Scientific Computations Division (SCD) is currently calculating assembly power limits based on reactor response to a double-ended guillotine pipe break loss of coolant accident (LOCA). SCD has implemented a two-level approach in which the Transient Reactor Analysis Code (TRAC) is used to calculate the system pressure response to the LOCA, and these pressures serve as the boundary conditions for a detailed assembly calculation using FLOWTRAN. As part of the TRAC calculation, a detailed TRAC model of the reactor vent paths has been developed that involves the hardware in the top portion of the reactor tank through which air flows as the moderator tank drains following the LOCA initiation. The hardware included in this model are the top shield (with its many penetrations), the gas space above the top shield, the vacuum breakers, the U tube, the helium blanket gas system, and the gas ports. This detailed model is necessary for an accurate calculation of the tank pressures in the first few seconds of the LOCA because the initial tank depressurization is relieved through these vent paths. The tank pressures for about 5 seconds into the transient are sensitive to water flow from the gas spacemore » through the top shield, the associated expansion pressure drop of the blanket gas, and the clearing of the vacuum breakers and gas ports. This model was added to a previously developed TRAC model of the rest of the system and the resulting full system model was used to calculate the pressure response during the first few seconds of the LOCA. 8 refs., 8 figs.« less