Unfiltered air inleakage analysis of the control room envelope of Kuosheng nuclear power plant
-
Yu-Ching Tsai
and
Chun-Wei Yang
Abstract
The control room envelope (CRE) of a nuclear power plant is quite important during all kinds of the accidents. Only with the guaranteed habitability of the CRE, the operators can shut down the reactor safely during an accident with the release of hazardous chemicals or radioactive gases. In this study, Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP) in Taiwan had performed the inleakage test by using tracer gas technique, and six cases with different heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC) lineups were tested in this study. The test results showed that the unfiltered inleakage rate for the pressurization modes ranged from 0.063 m3/s to 0.098 m3/s and were all within the acceptance criteria of 0.212 m3/s. For the isolation modes, the unfiltered inleakage rate ranged from 0.240 m3/s to 0.321 m3/s and were still within the acceptance criteria of 0.944 m3/s. The test result provided useful information to improve the vulnerability of the CRE. It also showed that a decrease in the positive differential pressure of the CRE relative to its surroundings did not inevitably increase the unfiltered inleakage rate of the CRE if the critical boundary, such as the negative differential portions of the ventilation system, were still well sealed.
Funding source: Institute of Nuclear Energy Research
Award Identifier / Grant number: Unassigned
Acknowledgments
The completion of this study relies on the massive on-site testing works that were performed excellently by Standard Testing & Engineering Inc., and the coordination and investigation works directed by the project leader of Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Dr. Yi-Kuang Chan. We appreciate their contributions on this study.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The authors have has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
Nomenclature
- A
-
the air exchange rate across the boundary
- C 0
-
the initial concentration of tracer gas within CRE
- C 1
-
the concentration within CRE measured at time t1
- C 2
-
the concentration within CRE measured at time t2
- C D
-
the concentration of tracer gas downstream of the injection point
- C I
-
the concentration of injection tracer gas
- C U
-
the concentration of tracer gas upstream of the injection point
- C(t)
-
the concentration of tracer gas within CRE
- CRE
-
control room envelope
- CRHS
-
control room habitability system
- HVAC
-
heating, ventilation and air conditioning system
- P
-
point of pressure measurement
- ΔP
-
differential pressure
- Q(t)
-
the volumetric airflow rate across the CRE or total inleakage rate
- Q makeup
-
makeup air flow rate
- Q unfiltered
-
unfiltered air inleakage rate
- S(t)
-
the volumetric flow rate of tracer gas injection
- t
-
time
- Tr
-
the sampling points of tracer gas concentration
- U1
-
unit 1 of Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP)
- U2
-
unit 2 of Kuosheng NPP
- V
-
the volume of the CRE
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- Study on the regularity of Se(IV) adsorption by bentonite from different regions
- Design study of small modular gas-cooled fast reactor employing modified CANDLE burnup with radial direction shuffling scheme
- Ecological interface design and evaluation for feedwater dearating system in NPPs
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- Unfiltered air inleakage analysis of the control room envelope of Kuosheng nuclear power plant
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Heat transfer and pressure drop analysis of a microchannel heat sink using nanofluids for energy applications
- Study on the regularity of Se(IV) adsorption by bentonite from different regions
- Design study of small modular gas-cooled fast reactor employing modified CANDLE burnup with radial direction shuffling scheme
- Ecological interface design and evaluation for feedwater dearating system in NPPs
- Comparative analysis of fuel burnup calculations of fourth-generation European fast reactors
- Unfiltered air inleakage analysis of the control room envelope of Kuosheng nuclear power plant
- Calendar of events
