Two phase natural circulation and the heat transfer in the passive residual heat removal system of an integral type reactor

Abstract An investigation of the thermal hydraulic characteristics and the natural circulation performance in the passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) for an integral type reactor have been carried out using the VISTA facility and the calculated results using the MARS code, which is a best estimate system analysis code have been compared with the experimental results. The VISTA facility consists of the primary, secondary, and the PRHRS circuits, to simulate the SMART design verification program. The experimental results show that the fluid is well stabilized in the PRHRS loop and the PRHRS heat exchanger accomplishes well its functions in removing the transferred heat from the primary side in the steam generator as long as the heat exchanger is submerged in the water in the emergency cooldown tank (ECT). The decay heat and the sensible heat can be sufficiently removed from the primary loop with the operation of the PRHRS. The MARS code predicts reasonably well the characteristics of the natural circulation in the PRHRS. From the calculation results, most of the heat transferred from the primary system is removed at the PRHRS heat exchanger by a condensation heat transfer.