Flow Network Analysis for the Flow Control of a Main Cooling Water System in the HANARO Fuel Test Loop

A nuclear fuel test loop(after below, FTL) is installed in the IRI of an irradiation hole in HANARO for testing the neutron irradiation characteristics and thermo hydraulic characteristics of a fuel loaded in a light water power reactor or a heavy water power reactor. There is an in-pile section(IPS) and an out-pile section(OPS) in this test loop. When HANARO is operated normally, the fuel loaded into the IPS has a nuclear reaction heat generated by a neutron irradiation. To remove the generated heat and to maintain the operation conditions of the test fuel, a main cooling water system(MCWS) is installed in the OPS of the FTL. The MCWS is composed of a main cooler, a pressurizer, two circulation pumps, a main heater, an interconnection pipe line and instruments. The interconnection pipeline is a closed loop which is connected to an inlet and an outlet of the IPS respectively. The MCWS is under a cold function test during a start-up period. This paper describes the system flow network analysis results of the flow control of a main cooling water system in the HANARO fuel test loop. It was confirmed through the results that the flow was met the system design requirements.