ABWR Containment Analysis Model Qualification Using the GOTHIC Code

Westinghouse is developing the capability to perform containment analyses for the advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) design. These analyses include the following: the short-term primary containment peak pressure and temperature response, short-term suppression pool swell response, and secondary containment compartment pressure and temperature response. The GOTHIC code, developed by Numerical Applications Incorporated (NAI) with funding from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is used for the ABWR containment response analyses. The code is capable of performing multidimensional analyses for models containing mixtures of air, steam, water, and other gases. It is qualified by a wide range of experimental tests that cover the important phenomena associated with containment design analyses. It has been used extensively for existing BWR and PWR power plants and this paper focuses on the extension to ABWR designs. The GOTHIC ABWR containment modeling approach is described and the results are compared with results from other previously accepted containment analysis methods.