Analytical study on degraded core quenching

Severe accident analysis of a reactor helps in emergency planning and evolution of Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMG). Actions recommended in the SAMG aim at arresting accident progression and limiting significant radioactive release. However, success of these SAMG actions needs to be assessed with respect to the evolution of accident. Analysis of consequences of injection of water into the reactor pressure vessel from bottom only as a SAMG action has been carried out for VVER-1000 (V320) reactor. The analysis shows that the success of this SAMG action depends not only on the state of core degradation at the time of injection, but also on the highest temperature reached in the reactor core at the time of injection as well as the availability of steam in the RPV.