Steam generator leakage in lead cooled fast reactors: Modeling of void transport to the core

Abstract Steam generator tube leakage and/or rupture (SGTL/R) is one of the safety issues for pool type liquid metal cooled fast reactors. During SGTL/R, water is injected from high-pressure secondary side to low-pressure primary side. The possible consequences of such an event include void transport to the core that has adverse effects on the reactor performance including heat transfer deterioration and reactivity insertion. This paper addresses the potential transport of steam bubbles to the core and subsequent void accumulation in the primary system in ELSY conceptual reactor. A CFD model of the primary coolant system for nominal operation is developed and verified. Bubble motion is simulated using Lagrangian tracking of steam bubbles in Eulerian flow field. The effects of uncertainties in the bubble size distribution and bubble drag are addressed. A probabilistic methodology to estimate the core and primary system voiding rates is proposed and demonstrated. A family of drag correlations by Tomiyama et al. (1998) provide the best agreement with the available experimental data. Primary system and core voiding analysis demonstrate that the smallest (sub-millimeter) bubbles have the highest probability to be entrained and remain in the coolant flow. It is found that leaks at the bottom region of the SG result in larger rates of void accumulation.