Objective - Exploitation of the experimental information acquired in the LOBI installation to enhance prevention and/or mitigation of accidents in water cooled reactors of current and advanced design. - Maintenance of the LOBI Data Base and Users Service. - Assessment and improvement of LWR safety code CATHARE 2 in the framework of a collaboration contract with the CEA in France. The objective of the work includes: the exploitation of the experimental information acquired in the LOBI installation to enhance prevention and mitigation of accidents in water cooled reactors of current and advanced design; the maintenance of the LOBI database and users' service; and the assessment and improvement of light water reactor (LWR) safety code CATHARE 2. With the execution of the 4 tests scheduled for the first half of the year the LOBI experimental programme has been successfully completed, providing a comprehensive database for the development and assessment of systems codes used in the safety evaluation of water cooled reactors.The implementation of the CATHARE code was successfully completed. The development of a new input deck for the LOBI tests facility has been completed. Further effort was devoted to improve the postprocessing capabilities of the code with respect to the visualization of the predicted system behaviour and an easy comparison of CATHARE results with experimental data or with results from other coder calculations. Significant effort has also gone into the implementation of CATHARE-2 on UNIX based workstations. The work has concentrated on post test calculations and the analysis of the comparison between predicted and measured data for various LOBI experiments. The analyses of the following tests have been completed: test A2-81: 1% small break loss of coolant accident (LOCA) test without accumulation injection and test BL-12: 1% small break LOCA test without emergency core cooling (ECC) injection.Progress to end 1991 . With the execution of the four tests scheduled for the first half of the year (i.e. BT-17, BT-16, BL-40 and BL-06), the LOBI Experimental Programme has been successfully completed (June 1991), providing a comprehensive Data Base for the development and assessment of system codes used in the safety evaluation of water cooled reactors. The research activity has been carried out in close collaboration with experts from institutional and/or industrial organizations of EC member countries, which have been actively involved in test definition and specification as well as pre- and post-test analysis of the results. Test Analysis and documentation of previous experiments (QLRs, EDRs, TPRs) as well as dissemination of significant results in the open literature continued. Relevant contribution to international scientific journals and conferences include : G. De Santi : Analysis of Steam Generator U-Tube Rupture and Intentional Depressurization in LOBI-MOD2 Facility, Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Design, March 1991 A. Annunziato : Influence of Secondary System Conditions on Steam Generator U-Tube flow Distribution during Single Phase Natural Circulation, Journal of Nuclear Technology, Nov. 1991 A. Annunziato : Steam Generator U-Tube Flow Distribution under Degraded Secondary System Conditions, International Meeting on Safety of Thermal Reactors, Portland (USA), July 21-25, 1991 C. Addabbo : Enhancement of Advanced PWR Safety Margins through Relaxation of PCS and Containment DBA Assumptions, Proceedings of the IAEA TCM on the Development and Design Aspects of Advanced Water Cooled Reactors, Rome(I), September 9-12, 1991 The CATHARE-2 code has been received at the JRC in February 1990. The implementation of the code was successfully completed in March 1990. The development of a new input deck for the LOBI tests facility has been completed by October 1990. Further effort was devoted to improve the post-processing capabilities of the code with respect to the visualization of the predicted system behaviour and an easy comparison of CATHARE results with experimental data or with results from other coder calculations. Significant effort has also gone into the implementation of CATHARE-2 on UNIX-based workstations with the impending closure of the JRC-Amdahl mainframe computer. During 1991 the work has concentrated on post-test calculations and the analysis of the comparison between predicted and measured data for various LOBI experiments as were selected in agreement with the CEN-Grenoble. By the end of 1991 the analysis of the following tests have been completed : Test A2-81 : 1 % small break LOCA test without accumulation injection (ISP-18 test) Test BL-12 : 1 % small break LOCA test without ECC injection. The results of this work have been presented at various meetings of the "CATHARE Users Club". A status report on the JRC Ispra activities on the CATHARE assessment was given at the International BETHSY/CATHARE seminar held at Grenoble in April 1991. Detailed description of work foreseen in 1992 - It is planned to devote a major effort to the continuation of test analysis and documentation work of the performed LOBI experiments to provide prospective users with the required references for a correct interpretation of the results. - Appropriate measures shall be implemented for a correct maintenance and protection of the LOBI Data Base which in its final version consists of 70 experiments spanning a wide range of postulated PWR accident conditions. - In line with the previous structure of the research activity which has been generally recognized as an effective approach to international cooperation in the field of water cooled reactor safety and upon the specific request from several EC member countries, a LOBI Data Users Club will be established. - A LOBI Seminar is scheduled for March 31 - April 2, 1992. The seminar will provide an opportunity to appraise the signifiance of the LOBI Project in the context of LWR safety research and development programmes of the EC member countries offering also a forum for the presentation of major achievements and significant results. - In the context of the acquired experimental information, prevention and mitigation strategies of direct relevance for the enhancement of the safety margins in reactors of current design will be assessed. - The evaluation of emerging advanced safety technologies envisaged for the enhancement of water cooled reactor safety in general and for the preservation of containment integrity in particular, will be pursued to identify prospective research requirements. - During 1992 the assessment of CATHARE will continue, on the basis of already identified tests (BT-01, BT-12 and BL-34) from the LOBI experimental programme. - A major activity in 1992 will be the documentation of the obtained results and the preparation of a final report, summarising the outcome of the CATHARE assessment as performed at the JRC on the basis of LOBI test data. Further effort will continue towards implementation of the code on workstations. Short description of evolution of work in 1993 - Any activity around the LOBI data should be balanced to outside interest and eventual scientific requirements. A minimum attention plan has however to be considered for LOBI Data Base maintenance and users service. The evolution of the research activity beyond 1992 shall be prevalently concentrated on advanced safety technologies emerging in the field of water cooled reactors with specific emphasis on those envisaged for the preservation of containment integrity in both current and advanced reactor configurations. - The present contractual agreement with the CEA terminates at the end of 1992. Any further extension of this collaboration, e.g. in the framework of a "Third Party Work", should be discussed with our partners in France by mid 1992. Programme(s) JRC-REACTSAFE 6C - Specific research programmes (Euratom) to be implemented by the Joint Research Centre - Reactor safety -, 1992-1994 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator Joint Research Centre (JRC) EU contribution No data Address 21020 Ispra Italy See on map Total cost No data
