Analysis of core physics and thermal-hydraulics results of control rod withdrawal experiments in the LOFT facility. [PWR]

Two anticipated transient experiments simulating an uncontrolled control rod withdrawal event in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) were conducted in the Loss-of-Fluid Test (LOFT) Facility at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The scaled LOFT 50-MW(t) PWR includes most of the principal features of larger commercial PWRs. The experiments tested the ability of reactor analysis codes to accurately calculate core reactor physics and thermal-hydraulic phenomena in an integral reactor system. The initial conditions and scaled operating parameters for the experiments were representative of those expected in a commercial PWR. In both experiments, all four LOFT control rod assemblies were withdrawn at a reactor power of 37.5 MW and a system pressure of 14.8 MPa.