Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of Fast Breeder Reactor: Protected Loss Of Flow (PLOF) Transient

Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) is a Liquid Metal Reactor(LMR) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). It is a pool type Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR). In order to demonstrate the inherent safety of this type of reactor, several loss of flow tests were done, as a part of Shutdown Heat Removal Test (SHRT) series. One of the tests is SHRT-17, which is a Protected Loss of Flow transient. At the beginning of this test the primary pumps were tripped and at the same time full control rod insertion was done. The test successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of natural circulation cooling capability of the reactor, which makes them inherently safe under this accident conditions. The design and geometry of the EBR II is quite complex and different form normal PWR reactors. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the modeling of the reactor using RELAP5-3D and to perform its Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis. The data was released as a part of an IAEA Coordinated Research Project which aims at improving the simulation capabilities in the fields of research and design of SFR through data and codes validation and qualification. Key words: EBR-II, RELAP5-3D modeling, IAEA benchmarking exercise for EBR I