The object of this paper is to understand the realistic behavior in Lungmen ABWR (Advanced Boiling Water Reactor) during a control rod drop accident (CRDA) transient. The CRDA transient would lead the reactor through an extremely fast and localized power excursion, requiring an accurate core modeling. The CRDA analysis for Lungmen ABWR was performed by coupling the 3D neutron kinetic code, PARCS, and two-phase thermal-hydraulic (T-H) code, TRACE. After TRACE/PARCS coupling calculation, the output data from TRACE/PARCS would be inputted into FRAPTRAN code as a function of time-dependent fuel rod power and coolant boundary conditions to calculate the fuel damage.
The CRDA analysis for Lungmen ABWR was performed for two conditions: a) case1: hot-full-power (HFP) at beginning of cycle (BOC); b) case2: hot-zero-power (HZP) at BOC. Under these conditions, the damage mechanisms of fuel rod are: 1) cladding ballooning and burst; 2) embrittlement and failure by high-temperature oxidation; 3) melting of cladding and/or fuel pellets. And the relevant quantities for fuel performance are the maximum fuel enthalpy and the melting temperatures of cladding and fuel pellet.
The results of CRDA analysis show that a) case1: no fuel failure occurs under HFP condition at BOC; b) case2: the fuel rod nearby the dropped control rod failed under HZP condition at BOC, and the FRAPPTRAN data exposes that the main reason of rod failure is the cladding high temperature.
