Development of the LMFBR Subchannel Analysis Code ATHAS-LMR and Analysis of Blockage Accident

Abstract

ATHAS is the subchannel analysis code, independently developed by Nuclear Safety and Operation Laboratory (NUSOL) of Xi'an Jiao Tong University (XJTU), the original version of the ATHAS is only suitable for pressurized water reactor. This paper is aimed at the characteristics of sodium cooled fast reactor core mentioned above, developing the analysis program AYHAS-LMR, which is applicable for LMFBR. In the design of sodium cold fast reactor, flow blockage must be considered to meet the design criteria. In view of this, a new model is proposed in this paper and added in ATHAS-LMR, considering the flow blockage which changes the flow area and the wetted perimeter. This model is based on the original grid model, we use the grid to simulate the presence of block, increase the resistance of the blockage area artificially. Then, ATHAS-LMR is able to simulate the flow blockage in LMFBR. In this paper, simulations of FFM5B blockage test were done for the high flow case with ATHAS-LMR, and we compare the simulation results with COMMIX-1. The result indicates that ATHAS-LMR is suitable for the analysis of the flow blockage.