Nuclear power station thermal hydraulic safety

Safety and reliability are the most important considerations in the operation of nuclear power stations. Many factors such as centrifugal pump start up, valve adjustment, bubble collapse can cause rapid changes of velocity and pressure, resulting in water hammer which can cause severe damage to the piping system including rupture resulting in failure of feed water system. This results in overheating of nuclear core which cause serious nuclear accidents. Auxiliary feed system must prevent damage to reactor core from heating in case of failure of primary feed water system. The inability of this system to operate properly can be catastrophic. 

Simcenter Amesim is used to model entire feed water system including the auxiliary feed water system. System was simulated for  different scenarios of 

Rapid valve closure

Slow valve closure

Rapid valve closure with an accumulator just upstream of control valve  

to study pressure fluctuations in the pipeline. Different surge alleviation methods like accumulators, air admission and release valves are evaluated. All scenarios like reliable auxiliary system is, in case of failure of primary feed water system are studied.