Hydrogen explosion effects at a containment building following a severe accident

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and subsequent 10–.14 m waves struck the Fukushima Daiichi (FD) Nuclear Power Plant. The main and backup electric power was damaged preventing the cooling system from functioning. Fuel rods overheated and led to hydrogen explosions. If heat in the fuel rods is not dissipated, the nuclear fuel coating material (e.g., Zircaloy) reacts with water vapor to generate hydrogen at high temperatures. This hydrogen is released into the containment area. If the released hydrogen burns, the stability of the containment area is significantly impacted. In this study, researchers performed an explosion analysis in a high-risk explosion area, analyzing the hydrogen distribution in a containment building [1] and the effects of a hydrogen explosion on containment safety. Results indicated that a hydrogen explosion was possible throughout the containment building except the middle area. If an explosion occurs at the top of the containment building with more than 40% of the hydrogen collected or in the bottom right or left side of the of containment building, safety of the containment building could be threatened.

[1]  H. Choi,et al.  Catalytic Recombination of Hydrogen and Oxygen in Air Stream , 2001 .

[2]  K. K. Vaze,et al.  CFD analysis of passive autocatalytic recombiner interaction with atmosphere , 2011 .

[3]  Kune Y. Suh,et al.  Demonstrative testing of honeycomb passive autocatalytic recombiner for nuclear power plant , 2011 .

[4]  Kim Jongtae,et al.  NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE HYDROGEN-STEAM BEHAVIOR IN THE APR1400 CONTAINMENT DURING A HYPOTHETICAL TOTAL LOSS OF FEED WATER ACCIDENT , 2005 .

[5]  F. Ferroni,et al.  Generic approach for designing and implementing a passive autocatalytic recombiner PAR-system in nuclear power plant containments , 2003 .

[6]  Kweon-Ha Park,et al.  Consideration on hydrogen explosion scenario in APR 1400 containment building during small breakup loss of coolant accident , 2015 .

[7]  Jae-Hong Park,et al.  HYDROGEN BEHAVIOR IN THE IRWST OF APR1400 FOLLOWING A STATION BLACKOUT , 2006 .

[8]  J. Deng,et al.  A study on evaluating a passive autocatalytic recombiner PAR-system in the PWR large-dry containment , 2008 .

[9]  Il Moon,et al.  Simulation of hydrogen leak and explosion for the safety design of hydrogen fueling station in Korea , 2013 .

[11]  Jérôme Taveau.  Explosion hazards related to hydrogen releases in nuclear facilities , 2011 .

[12]  Franck Morfin,et al.  Catalytic combustion of hydrogen for mitigating hydrogen risk in case of a severe accident in a nuclear power plant: study of catalysts poisoning in a representative atmosphere , 2004 .

[13]  Kweon-Ha Park,et al.  Hydrogen concentration variation and examination of PAR installation in reactor containment building during hydrogen release from different direction failure places , 2014 .