A Simulation of Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident (SB-LOCA) in AP1000 Nuclear Power Plant Using RELAP5-MV

To ensure effective operation of nuclear power plants, it is very important to evaluate different accident scenarios in actual plant conditions with different codes. In the field of nuclear safety, Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) is one of the main accidents. RELAP-MV Visualized Modularization software technology is recognized as one of the best estimated transient simulation programs of light water reactors, and also has the options for improved modeling methods, advanced programming, computational simulation techniques and integrated graphics displays. In this study, transient analysis of the primary system variation of thermo-hydraulics parameters in primary loop under SB-LOCA accident in AP1000 nuclear power plant (NPP) is carried out by Relap5-MV thermo-hydraulics code. While focusing on LOCA analysis in this study, effort was also made to test the effectiveness of the RELAP5-MV software already developed. The accuracy and reliability of RELAP5-MV have been successfully confirmed by simulating LOCA. The calculation was performed up to a transient time of 4,500.0s. RELAP5-MV is able to simulate a nuclear power system accurately and reliably using this modular modeling method. The results obtained from RELAP5 and RELAP5-MV are in agreement as they are based on the same models though in comparison with RELAP5, RELAP5-MV makes simulation of nuclear power systems easier and convenient for users most especially for the beginners.