Experiments supporting analysis code assessment for the advanced test reactor

A series of experiments in a small-scale hydraulics facility has recently been completed. The experiments were designed to provide data for assessment of thermal-hydraulic codes used in analysis of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) design basis accident. The experimental program was conducted at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Idaho National Engineering Laboratory to support the overall effort examining the safety and operation of the materials production and test facilities under DOE management in the United States. The program involved the design and construction of a small integral test facility, referred to as the Plexibottle, and the operation of this facility over a range of transient experiments encompassing conditions expected in the ATR during a hypothesized large-break loss-of-coolant accident (LBLOCA). The primary program objective was to generate a data base of visual and quantitative information that would be appropriate for use in assessment of thermal-hydraulic techniques used in analysis of the ATR LBLOCA. Other objectives were the investigation and parameterization of the influence of specifics such as break location and break size on the behavior of the system and to examine the performance of specific ATR design features during simulated loss-of-coolant accident conditions. Although the results of such investigations cannot bemore » directly extrapolated to full scale, they stimulate insight relative to the behavior of the full-scale reactor.« less