Main characteristics of PIPER-ONE facility" (in Italian),

The document constituted the key internal report dealing with the design and the construction of the PIPER-ONE loop installed at the Scalbatraio Laboratory managed by DCMN (Dipartimento di Costruzioni Meccaniche e Nucleari – previously IIN, Istituto di Impianti Nucleari) of University of Pisa. PIPER-ONE was built in Italy as a consequence of the Three-Mile accident (1979): it aimed at simulating the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) performance following Small Break Loss of Coolant Accidents (SBLOCA). The natural circulation which occurs between down-comer and core into the vessel constitutes the reference thermal-hydraulic phenomenon which needed to be simulated. The concerned document describes the main design features of the experimental facility and constituted the basis for the construction. The PIPER-ONE loop was used for an International Standard Problem (ISP) by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) / Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) / Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) during the middle of 80’s. The design and the operation of the loop constituted a milestone achievement in the area of nuclear thermal-hydraulics with main reference to the scaling. The present document was prepared on the occasion of the OECD/NEA workshop organized by UNIPI in Marina di Grosseto (I) in relation to the preparation of the International Standard Problem (ISP) 21. The document, dealing with the main features of the PIPER-ONE loop, as built, was distributed to the international participants of the ISP