Modelling and capability of severe accident simulation code, AZORES to analyze In-Vessel Retention for a loop-type sodium-cooled fast reactor

Research and development of the physical models and codes of safety analyses have been promoted for loop-type Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs). A severe accident code, AZORES has been developing for the evaluation of molten corium behavior and integrity of reactor and containment vessels. AZORES enables the simulation of plant equipment behavior under severe accident conditions. In recent years, much attention regarding the mitigation of severe accident progression has been attracted to In-Vessel Retention (IVR) of SFRs, which has relatively less existing experimental and analysis results than that of the Light Water Reactor (LWR). This paper describes the status of development for main physical models and preliminary verification for IVR simulation mainly with AZORES. For a verification process, the simulation has been conducted for representative Post-Accident Material Relocation (PAMR)/Post-Accident Heat Removal (PAHR) phases subsequent to an Anticipated Transients Without Scram (ATWS) to evaluate the impact of initial conditions on severe accident progression. From the study, it was found that the mass of molten corium and capability of decay heat removal were key parameters for the attainment of IVR. Furthermore, this paper describes the results of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations which have been conducted for molten corium relocation in a control rod assembly and for corium coolability with sodium coolant on the core catcher for the purpose of enhancing the related AZORES physical models. •Modelling of core degradation for a loop type SFR.•Simulation of post-accident phase related to IVR concept.•Capability of severe accident simulation code.