Evaluation of Core Damage Frequency of High Flux Engineering Test Reactor From Internal Events

PSA is found to be a valuable tool for improving the safety and reliability of nuclear reactors due to intense involvement of human interactions in an experimental facility. It may also be advantageously applied to research reactors under design and construction. This paper demonstrates the study and result of a Level 1 internal initiating event PSA under the power operation mode to the High Flux Engineering Test Reactor (HFETR) which is under design and construction. The occurrence frequency of core damage which may potentially arise in HFETR is evaluated by using RiskSpectrum software, and event trees have been used to study the response of the installation to various initiating events whereas fault trees have been used in the modeling of safety system failures. Calculation results show that core damage frequency for HFETR research reactor is 5.28E−07 per year, and initiating events which have a significant contribution to CDF are loss of coolant water and loss of offsite power.