Assessment of Aircraft Crash to Containment and its Effects on Reactor Cavity and Major Components Available to Purchase

Since a containment serves as the last barrier of NPP (Nuclear Power Plant), high level of safety should be ensured to isolate and protect internal devices against external events such as earthquake, hurricane and aircraft crash. The objective of this study is to assess structural integrity of the reinforced concrete with liner plate of a containment subjected to the aircraft crash, and to examine its effects on an interior structure and major components. In this context, systematic FE (Finite Element) analyses combined with SPH (Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics) model for fuel were carried out by taking into account different crash locations and colliding velocities. Damage of the reinforced concrete containment due to crushing and cracking as well as stress and strain of reinforced structure were evaluated. Subsequently, stresses of major components as well as damage of reactor cavity were calculated. As typical results, connector was derived as critical location of the containment with regard to interior components, high stress values occurred at penetration pipes and head fittings, which did not exceed their yield and ultimate strengths respectively.