An earthquake transient method for pebble-bed reactors and a fuel temperature model for TRISO fueled reactors

This investigation is divided into two general topics: (1) a new method for analyzing the safe shutdown earthquake event in a pebble bed reactor core, and (2) the development of an explicit tristructural-isotropic fuel model for high temperature reactors. The safe shutdown earthquake event is one of the design basis accidents for the pebble bed reactor. The new method captures the dynamic geometric compaction of the pebble bed core. The neutronic and thermal-fluids grids are dynamically re-meshed to simulate the re-arrangement of the pebbles in the reactor during the earthquake. Results are shown for the PBMR-400 assuming it is subjected to the Idaho National Laboratory's design basis earthquake. The study concludes that the PBMR-400 can safely withstand the reactivity insertions induced by the slumping of the core and the resulting relative withdrawal of the control rods. This characteristic stems from the large negative Doppler feedback of the fuel. This Doppler feedback mechanism is a major contributor to the passive safety of gas-cooled, graphite-moderated, high-temperature reactors that use fuel based on TRISO particles. The correct prediction of the magnitude and time-dependence of this feedback effect is essential to the conduct of safety analyses for these reactors. An explicit TRISO fuel temperature model named THETRIS has been developed in this work and incorporated in the CYNOD-THERMIX-KONVEK suite of coupled codes. The new model yields similar results to those obtained with more complex methods, requiring multi-TRISO calculations within one control volume. The performance of the code during fast and moderately-slow transients is verified. These analyses show how explicit TRISO models improve the predictions of the fuel temperature, and consequently, of the power escalation. In addition, a brief study of the potential effects on the transient behavior of high-temperature reactors due to the presence of a gap inside the TRISO particles is included. Although the formation of a gap occurs under special conditions, its consequences on the dynamic behavior of the reactor can cause unexpected responses during fast transients, but still the reactor shuts down due to the strong temperature feedback effects.