Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the 1999 International RERTR Meeting
THERMAL HYDRAULIC AND SAFETY ANALYSES FOR
PAKISTAN RESEARCH
REACTOR-1
by
I. H. BOKHARI, M. ISRAR, S. PERVEZ
Nuclear Engineering
Division
Pakistan Institute of
Nuclear Science and Technology
P.O. Nilore,
Islamabad, Pakistan
To be presented at:
22nd International Meeting on
Reduced Enrichment
for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR)
4-8 October, 1999,
Budapest, Hungary
ABSTRACT
Thermal hydraulic and safety
analysis of Pakistan Research Reactor-1 (PARR-1) utilizing low enriched uranium
(LEU) fuel have been performed using computer code PARET. The present core
comprises of 29 standard and 5 control fuel elements. Results of the thermal
hydraulic analysis show that the core can be operated at a steady-state power
level of 10 MW for a flow rate of 950 m3/h, with sufficient safety
margins against ONB (onset of nucleate boiling) and DNB (departure from
nucleate boiling). Safety analysis has been carried out for various modes
of reactivity insertions. The events
studied include: start-up accident; accidental drop of a fuel element in the core; flooding of a beam tube
with water; removal of an in-pile experiment during reactor operation etc. For each of these transients,
time histories of reactor power, energy released and clad surface temperature
etc. were calculated. The results indicate that the peak clad temperatures
remain well below the clad melting temperature during these accidents. It is
therefore concluded that the reactor can be safely operated at 10 MW without
compromising safety.