A filter system to be used in order to reduce the radioactive pollution when reducing the pressure in the containment in case of a severe accident is developed. The radioactive pollution will be captured in the vessel that acts as a bubble column. To be able to maximize the water content in order to ensure that the radioactive pollution is captured it is of importance to predict the swelled water level in the vessel. In this study is three different methods to predict the gas holdup is presented and compared to experimental results; empirical correlations, thermal-hydraulic codes and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The advantages and disadvantages with the different methods are discussed.
Both Computational Fluid Dynamics and the thermal hydraulic code (Gothic) show good predictions of the water level. Using empirical models it is crucial to have knowledge of the two-phase flow region in the bubble column.
