Hydrogen hazard and mitigation analysis in PWR containment
Date
2012-04-09
Authors
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Publisher
Annals of Nuclear Energy
Abstract
This paper describes the analytical results for the estimation of hydrogen concentration in the contain ment atmosphere based on zirconium oxidation reaction following a severe accident. The analysis pro vides useful information about the potential challenge of local hydrogen accumulation in the
containment, which may be used to reduce the hydrogen detonation risk and to design the capacity
and arrangements of mitigation measures. The containment analysis has been performed using computer
code COGAP which uses the scenario of loss of coolant accident. The behavior of pressure and hydrogen
concentrations in containment as a function of time under the severe accident condition is presented in
graphical form. The mitigation measures (recombiners) are essential to maintain containment atmo sphere in the safe stable conditions. A hydrogen control system is to mitigate the hydrogen risk by com paring results from a reference accident sequence with and without recombiners. This comparison show
that combustible gas occur in few local areas in the containment for a limited time span and hydrogen
concentration is reduced significantly with the use of recombiners.
Description
Keywords
energy systems engineering