Methods and Results for the MSLB NEA Benchmark Using SIMTRAN and RELAP-5

Abstract The purpose of this paper is first to discuss the methods developed in our three-dimensional pressurized water reactor core dynamics code SIMTRAN and its coupling to the system code RELAP-5 for general transient and safety analysis. Then, we summarize its demonstration application to the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)/Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Benchmark on Main Steam Line Break (MSLB), co-sponsored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and other regulatory institutions. In particular, our work has been supported by the Spanish “Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear” (CSN) under a CSN research project. Our results for the steady states and the guided-core transients, proposed as exercise 2 of the MSLB benchmark, show small deviations from the mean results of all participants, especially in core average parameters. For the full-coupled core-plant transients, exercise 3, a detailed comparison with the University of Purdue–NRC results using PARCS/RELAP-5, shows quite good agreement in both integral and local parameters, especially for the more extreme return-to-power scenario.