1

JRC-IET activities in the field of Gen IV Reactor Safety

Ghislain Pascal,

Nuclear Reactor Accident Analyses and Modelling Action Leader

Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessment Unit (NRSA),

Institute for Energy and Transport, EC-DG Joint Research Center

http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.euLFR Design and Safety Workshop, 28 February 2013

22

Content:

- Introduction

- Nuclear activities at JRC-IET

- Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessment Unit (NRSA)

- Nuclear Reactor Accident Analyses and Modeling Group (NURAM)

- Main Activities in the field of Gen IV reactors

- Participation to research projects (Euratom FP7, IAEA) for Gen IV reactors

- Conclusion

33

European Commission(27 Commission members)

Panorama of the European Union

European Parliament

SG

European Court of Auditors

The Council of the European Union

The Committee of the Regions

Court of JusticeEconomic and

Social Committee

RELEX ENTR MOVE ENER RTD JRC

IPSC IET IHCP ITUIPTSIESIRMM

CLIMA

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn

CommissionerCommissionerCommissioner Commissioner

Reactor safety

44

IET – Petten/Ispra, The Netherlands/Italy- Institute for EnergyStaff: 275 in Petten

IRMM - Geel Belgium- Institute for Reference Materials and MeasurementsStaff: 345

ITU – Karlsruhe/Ispra Germany/Italy- Institute for Transuranium elementsStaff: 325 in Karlsruhe

IPSC - IHCP - IES - Ispra Italy - Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen - Institute for Health and Consumer Protection - Institute for Environment and Sustainability Staff: 425, 320, 450

IPTS - Seville Spain- Institute for Prospective Technological StudiesStaff: 170

Total staff: ~ 2500 people

55

JRC – Robust science for policy making

JRC Mission Statement

The mission of the Joint Research Centre is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of European Union policies.

As a service of the European Commission, the Joint Research Centre functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.

“ Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessment Unit (NRSA)” M. Bièth

NURAM G. Pascal

• Modelling of Severe Accidents• Source Term Evaluation• Support to DG ENER• NUGENIA

NUSAC B. Zerger

• EU Clearinghouse (OEF)• Safety operation of NPPs• Support to DG ENER

SINSAC B. Farrar

• INSC• PHARE-IPA• Support to DG DEVCO• Support to DG ELARG

Support to the EU "Stress Tests" for NPPs

• Str. Integrity Gen II,III &IV• Mat. Research Gen II, III & IV• Irradiation • ESNII/ EERA NM, NUGENIA, N2CI, ENIQ

“Nuclear Reactor Integrity Assessment and Knowledge Management" P. Hähner

CAPTURE U. von Estdorff

MATTINO K-F Nilsson

• Knowledge preservation• Training

“ Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessment Unit (NRSA)” M. Bièth

NURAM G. Pascal

• Modelling of Severe Accidents• Source Term Evaluation• Support to DG ENER• NUGENIA

NUSAC B. Zerger

• EU Clearinghouse (OEF)• Safety operation of NPPs• Support to DG ENER

SINSAC B. Farrar

• INSC• PHARE-IPA• Support to DG DEVCO• Support to DG ELARG

Support to the EU "Stress Tests" for NPPs

Personnel:275

8

Nuclear Reactor Accident Analysis and Modelling (NURAM)

G. Pascal

9

• Following the Fukushima accident, decision taken at JRC level to:

• Further develop strong capabilities in Severe Accident Analyses for Gen II&III and IV reactors

• To work in collaboration with partners (EU TSOs, international organisations, networks…)* on possible ways to improve Severe Accident Management on EU NPPs

Nuclear Reactor Accident analyses and Modelling group at JRC-IET (NURAM):

SevereAccidentResearchNETwork of excellence

IAEA

*

OECD

1010

Modeling Tools:

Severe Accident for Gen II, III and IV reactors

• ASTEC• MAAP4

• RELAP/SCDAP

• SAS4A

• SIMMER

Safety and feasibility aspects of nuclear reactors (among others):

• Reactor Physics, neutronics MCNP/MCNPX, SERPENT, SCALE5.1, PARCS

• Thermal-hydraulics CATHARE, TRACE

• Computational Fluid Dynamics ANSYS CFX, OpenFOAM

NURAM main tools

1111

Euratom FP 7 projects to which NURAM participates:

Acronym Topic Duration

CP-ESFR Collaborative Project for a European Sodium Fast Reactor 1/1/2009-12/31/2012

LEADER Lead-cooled European Advanced Demonstration Reactor 4/2/2010-4/1/2013

SARGEN-IV Harmonized European methodology for Safety Assessment of innovative fast reactors

1/1/2012 -13/31/2013

JASMIN Joint Advances Severe accidents Modelling and Integration for Na-cooled in fast neutron reactors

12/1/2011-11/30/2015

SARNET2 Severe Accident Research Network of Excellence for integration of EU Research on LWRs Severe Accident Phenomenology and Management

1/1/2009 – 3/31/2013

CESAM Code for European Severe Accident Mangement (LWRs) 4 years (starting date: April 2013)

Ongoing or just finished:

Starting:

12

CP-ESFR: Collaborative Project for a European Sodium Fast Reactor

Fission-2008-01-24 call project

IET was involved in the following Sub-Projects (SPs):

• SP2.1.2 Cores neutronic and thermal-hydraulic characteristics

• SP2.1.3 Reactivity coefficients optimization

• SP2.1.5 ESFR Cores with optimized characteristics: Monte Carlo analysis of reactivity control methods

• SP3.2.1 Review of safety concept of the ESFR

• SP3.3.1 DBC analysis and benchmarking : 1D/3D ESFR models with system codes (TRACE/RELAP5)

• SP3.3.2 DEC assessment : CFD analysis of sub-assembly blockage in ESFR core

• SP3.6.1 PIRT on DBC and DEC phenomenology

26 Participants: CEA (co-ordinator), AMEC, ANSALDO, AREVA, CIEMAT, EDF, ENEA, KIT,NRG, NRI, JRC-IET, JRC-ITU, PSI, IRSN….

Duration: 48 Months

ESFR Fuel assemblyhttp://www.cp-esfr.eu/

Nominal steady state

• Reactor power: 3600 MWth

• Core inlet temperature: Tci = 668 K

• Core outlet temperature: Tco = 818 K

• Aver. heat flux on pin surface ca. 106 W/m2

• Aver. coolant flow velocity ca. w = 7 m/s

SP3.3.1 DBC analysis and benchmarking

• Sodium cooled Fast Reactors• Development of a 1D thermohydraulic model of the ESFR plant

design for TRACE code. FP7-ESFR project • Upgrade to 3D thermohydraulic model• Development of a 3D neutronic model of the ESFR core design • Coupling of the system code with the 3D - neutronic code (PARCS)

April 18, 2023 13

650

750

850

950

1050

1150

1250

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Tmax

Tsat

Tco

Tci

Coolant velocity and temperature during fuel assembly blockage accident

The coolant heats up and starts evaporating after few seconds (at

saturation temp. Tsat)

The flow velocity w of the coolant

decreases significantly

Temperature at top of active core

The slower the coolant the higher Tmax

SP3.3.2 DEC assessment : CFD analysis of sub-assembly blockage in ESFR core

T

[K]

Average coolant velocity w [m/s]

April 18, 2023 14

Realistic 3-dimensional geometry

• Computational model for ca. 6 fuel pins

• Core temperature is a function of flow velocity

• Max temperature at nominal steady state slightly

over the core outlet temperature Tco

steady state

Computation of coolant flow and temperature

15

LEADER:Lead-cooled European Advanced Demonstration Reactor

Fission-2009-2.2.1 call project

WP 2.1 Conceptual ELFR neutronics design and characterisation (Task Leader)

WP 3.1 Reference plant configuration

WP 5.4 Analysis of representative DBC events

WP 6.4 Lead technology: Assessment of SG tube rupture accident

17 Participants: ANSALDO (co-ordinator), CEA, ENEA, KIT, KTH, MRG, PSI, SCK-CEN, JRC-IET,….

Duration: 36 Months Start: 04/02/2010

JRC-IET participates in:

Safety Analysis of Fast Reactors Technology

• Lead cooled Fast Reactors

• CP-LEADER project:

• A representative TH-PK model of the

ALFRED design has been developed in

the system code TRACE and it has been

used to analyze consequences of ULOF

and UTOP transients. The thermal

dynamical properties of lead were

implemented in the code.

April 18, 2023 16

1717

JASMIN: Joint Advanced Severe Accidents Modelling and Integration for Na-cooled Fast Neutron Reactors

• Development and validation of a joint European computer code for modelling of initiation phases of severe accidents in liquid metal cooled fast reactors: ASTEC-Na

• Focus on SFRs; further extensions are planned for applicability to LFRs

Objectives of JASMIN

• Leads task on the development and qualification of the neutronics model in ASTEC-Na

• Contributes to the benchmarking/validation of the fuel pin mechanics model in ASTEC-N

• Contributes to integration and dissemination activities

JRC/IET in JASMIN

Participants

IRSN (coordinator), KIT, GRS, ENEA, CIEMAT, University of Stuttgart, EC/JRC: IET (leading) + ITU, AREVA NP, EDF

Fission-2011-2.2.1 call project

Duration: 48 Months Start: 01/01/2011

18

SARGEN_IV: Proposal for a harmonized European methodology for the safety

assessment of innovative reactors with fast neutron spectrum planned to be built

in EuropeFission-2011-2.3.1 call project

JRC-IET participates in:

WP2: identification of critical safety features for technical terms of references (Leading task

2.5 : Identification and ranking of safety issues)

WP3: Review of safety methodologies for innovative reactors (Leading the WP)

WP4: Test application of the European methodologies proposed in WP3 (Leading Task 4.3 –

Support of EURATOM preparation “white paper” on safety assessment SFR, LFR and GFR.)

WP5: Development of a European roadmap for fast reactor safety R&D (Leading Task 5.2 –

Identification of open issues based on the experiences from previous WP)

22 Participants: IRSN (co-ordinator), JRC-IET, GRS, BelV, ENEA, LEI, CEA, ANSALDO, EdF, UJV, VTT, PSI, AEKI, AREVA, AMEC, UNIMAN, KIT, HZDR, VUJE, RWTH, SCK-CEN, UPM

Duration: 24 Months Start: 01/01/2012SARGEN_IV Workshop on Safety

Assessment Methodologies March 28-29, 2012 – JRC-IET Petten, The Netherlands

HPLWR

IAEA CRP on Heat Transfer Behaviour and Thermo-Hydraulics Code Testing for SCWRs

- Collecting and Sharing Typical SCWR Core Design Parameters

- Collect, share and analyze existing data for critical flow during blowdown

- “Standard problems”: Heat transfer and Instability

- Study on Stability with Neutronic Feedback

IAEA

2020

• Extensive development ongoing at JRC-IET in the field of Accident Analyses and Accident Management (especially Severe Accident) for Gen II&III and Gen IV reactors

• Collaboration with EU partners (EU TSOs, international organisations, networks…) is key aspect of the work

• JRC-IET is willing to engage in a long term on the topic

CONCLUSION

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Thank You for Your Attention

2222

Annexes

WP0

Project management

WP1

Roadmapping

NUGENIA Association

WP2

Preparing H2020

WP3

Infrastructures & skills

WP4 Interactions & Dissemination

WP 5 TA1

WP 6 TA2

WP 7 TA3

WP 8 TA4

WP 9 TA5?

WP 10

TA6

WP 11

TA7R&D

JRC-IET involved in 3 WP

NUGENIA+

ESNII+

| 24

Cross-cutting R&DCross-cutting R&D

Structuring

ESNIIStructuring

ESNII

WP0

Project management

WP0

Project management

WP 6

Core safety

WP 6

Core safety

WP 7

Fuel Safety

WP 7

Fuel Safety

WP 8

Seismic studies

WP 8

Seismic studies

WP 9 Instrumentatio

n for safety

WP 9 Instrumentatio

n for safety

WP2

ESNII Roadmapping

WP2

ESNII Roadmapping

WP1

Structuring ESNII for H2020

WP1

Structuring ESNII for H2020

WP3

Support to facilities

development

WP3

Support to facilities

development

WP5

Training & Disseminatio

n

WP5

Training & Disseminatio

n

WP4

Industrial perspectives

WP4

Industrial perspectives

JRC-IET involved in 3 WP

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Centralised EU Nuclear Safety Clearinghouse for Operational Experience Feedback (NUSAC)

B. Zerger

26

• A centralised EU initiative at the service of EU MS nuclear Safety Authorities, to improve the use of Operational Experience (OE) from Nuclear Power Plants (NPP)

• Created in 2008 with 7 participating EU MS

• Today all EU MS having NPPs are participating, together with international organisations (OECD, IAEA) and part of the nuclear industry.

What is the EU Clearinghouse on OE for NPPs?

20.08.2012 26

27

All the EU regulators with NPPs are now participating (+Switzerland)

20.08.2012 27

28

Main deliverables from the EU Clearinghouse :

• “Topical studies” about specific types of events: maintenance, nuclear fuel, construction…

• Quarterly reports about events occurring worldwide

• Organization of workshops and training about OEF

• International cooperation with IAEA and OECD-NEA

• …

+ specific actions :

• Fukushima updates

EU Clearinghouse (NUSAC)

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Support to International Nuclear Safety Activities (SINSAC)

B. Farrar

30

Support to Regulatory Authorities and their TSOs

Capacity building, staff training, development of legislation,

improvement of regulatory approaches and competence

Support to NPP Operators

Improvement of plant operational

safety/practices

Plant modernisation (equipment supply)

Decommissioning, Site remediation and RWM

National RWM strategies; Decommissioning, waste management

and site remediation studies and safety documentation

Supply of equipment and plant for the treatment, packaging and

storage of radioactive wastes

The Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC)

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INSC current geographical coverage

Developments

CIS: Belarus, Mongolia

added

S-E Asia: Malaysia,

Indonesia added

North Africa and ME: Arab

spring, Iraq

Latin America: Argentina,

Chile?

32

JRC involvement: Technical support at all stages

• Project identification and selection

• Preparation of the Annual Programme documentation

• Exploratory Missions

• Preparation of the tendering / contract documentation (TS, ToR)

• Technical follow-up of projects

• Technical assessment of project results

• Dissemination of project results

Responsible DG: DG Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid (DG DEVCO)

The Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC)

3333

Post- Fukushima EU Stress tests.

• Stress Test Scientific Secretariat

• Significant JRC effort to support the stress tests

• Provision of 9 experts for the peer reviews

• Participation to 3 Topical Peer-Reviews + 17

Country Peer-Reviews

• Contributing to the EC report to the Council

• Answering 10 EP Questions

• 3000 pages of National reports reviewed

3434

SevereAccidentResearchNETwork of excellence

Currently:• 21 Countries (Europe plus Switzerland, Canada, USA

and Korea, Japan expected soon)• 42 organizations

Coordination done by IRSN (France) 21 Research organizations 7 Universities 7 Industry/utilities organizations 7 Regulatory Bodies and Technical Support

Organisations• 220 researchers (+PhD)• Work around 40 equivalent full-time persons/y• JRC-IET member of the Network since 1st phase

Participate in ASTEC development and validation

Operate the SARNET-STRESA portal (hosted with STRESA-JRC node in JRC Petten since 2009)

Support to network coordination + other tasks

– 1st phase between 2004-2008 in FP6

– 2nd started in April 2009 for 4 years (in FP7)

– Next phase within NUGENIA network

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CESAM: Code for European Severe Accident Mangement

Fission-2012-2.1.2 call proposal

JRC/IET (NURAM) will contribute in the following areas:• WP 20: Modelling assessment, improvement and validation • WP 40: Plant Application and Severe Accident Management (JRC-IET

Lead beneficiary of WP40)

- Development of a set of “reference input deck” for the main generic type of NPPs in Europe (PWR, BWR,VVER, CANDU), ASTEC calculations

• WP 50: Dissemination of the Knowledge

18 Participants: GRS (co-ordinator), IRSN, KIT, JRC-IET, CIEMAT, ENEA, VUJE, VTT, AREVA, PSI….

Duration: 48 Months, starting in April 2013

Main objective of the project: Development/validation of an ASTEC version covering all main types of European NPPs