R & D for Boiling Water Reactors

5. R & D FOR BOILING WATER REACTORS

INTRODUCTION

The twin units of Boiling Water Reactors at Tarapur were the first nuclear power stations established in the Indian sub continent. These
reactors, commissioned in 1969, are the longest serving Boiling Water Reactors in the world. This chapter on Boiling Water Reactors
highlights the work done on simulated optimisation scheme for control rod withdrawal sequence, the core shroud acoustic load
evaluation and the transient dynamic response.

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Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) has an installed capacity of
2 x 210 MWe. This reactor is a forced circulation boiling water
reactor, producing steam for direct use in the steam turbine.
The fuel consists of uranium dioxide pellets contained in
Zircaloy-2 tubes. Water serves as both the moderator and
coolant.
The bottom entry cruciform control rods provide Safety Control
Rods Accelerated Movement (SCRAM) as well as reactor control
function. Each drive has its own separate control and scram,
devices. A control rod reactivity-limiting device called Rod Worth
Minimiser (RWM) limits the reactivity addition in the reactor and
assures that any reactivity addition is as per predetermined
Reactor Technology & Engineering
R & D for Boiling Water Reactors
program. In addition to the control rod drive system, a stand by
Liquid Poison System (LPS) is provided to manually initiate
injection of a neutron poison (liquid sodium pentaborate
solution) into the reactor to make the reactor sub-critical.
An Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) is designed to pump
water directly from the suppression pool into the reactor vessel
and drywell under the postulated loss of coolant accident
conditions. The system design is such that there is minimal fuel
damage and containment structures are not challenged even in
the worst accident scenario. This system has inbuilt redundancy
to take care of any component failure.
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R & D for Boiling Water Reactors

CORE DESIGN DATA

Thermal Out put - 660 MWt (Dual Cycle) / 210 MWe

Re-rated thermal output - 530 MWt (Single Cycle) / 160 MWe

(Operating on single cycle since 1984 after isolation of secondary steam generators)

Operating pressure - 6.89 x 106 Pa (1000 psig)

Total core flow - 2897.78 kg/s (23 X 106 lbs/h)

Primary steam flow - 261.11 kg/s

Fuel Assemblies

Number of fuel assemblies - 284

Fuel rod array - 6X6

Active Fuel length - 3.66 m (12 feet)

Fuel material - UO2 ( Pellets)

Average fuel enrichment - 2.44 % 235U

Fuel clad - Zircaloy-2

Discharge Burn-up/fuel bundle - 21600 MWd/t

Control System

Number of movable control rods - 69

Shape of control blade - Cruciform

Control rod poison material - B4C granules in SS tubes.

Reactor Pressure Vessel

Reactor vessel inside diameter - 3.66 m (12 feet)

Reactor vessel overall length - 16.41 m (53 feet - 10 inch.)

Reactor Recirculation System

Number of Loops - 02

Pump Capacity - 7404.26 m3/h (32,600 gpm each)

Pump head (Total) - 50.29 m (165 feet)

Turbine

Type - TC Dual Admission Single flow

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 R & D for Boiling Water Reactors

5.1 SIMULATED ANNEALING OPTIMIZATION objective to minimize the difference between them. This code is
SCHEME FOR OBTAINING CONTROL ROD made operational in parallel computing environment for
WITHDRAWAL SEQUENCE IN TAPS obtaining quicker results.
REACTORS

Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) consists of two Boiling

Water Reactors (BWRs). The monitoring of BWRs has
. The power
requirements
escalation program

traditionally been accomplished by a combination of analytical

and plant measurement techniques. Earlier methods of core TAPS follows hybrid PCIOMR guidelines for power raise after
analysis were composed of curve fits or discrete factors applied each BOC / Mid cycle sequence change startup. These
to core lattice analytical results obtained from more guidelines are designed in such a way that, during the
sophisticated nuclear models. The high speed and large memory power raise operation, the fuel bundles would receive lesser
of latest computer systems have provided an ideal capability for thermal shock. This procedure normally takes 13-14 days
enhancement of core analysis methods. to reach reactor power level to full power. The figure gives the
graphical representation for the typical power escalation
The key to the accurate core analysis is the rapid and accurate program. In order to sail smoothly through the power
determination of the three-dimensional core power escalation program, guideline partial power patterns at 90 MW(e)
distribution. The more accurately the power distribution is known,
the more closely the operating limits may be set to real thermal
design limits of the fuel. This permits a higher design power
density, with consequential fuel cost reductions. The core power
distribution calculation is performed in two steps -
(i) the calculations of basic lattice parameters and
(ii) three dimensional core simulations.

In TAPS, 69 cruciform type boron carbide control rods are

provided for control and shut down purpose. Control rods are
withdrawn to maintain the criticality and to
control the core power distribution during the reactor power
operation. Shifts in core power distribution can be controlled
(within certain limits) by choice of control rod withdrawal
sequence. A computer code COMETG developed, is
routinely employed for the purpose of obtaining the effect of
control rod moment on core power distribution and
determination of criticality. There can be many ways in which
Unit-1, Cycle-20 Power Escalation Chart
control rods could be withdrawn. To consider all of them is
manually difficult and not possible. Therefore optimal control
rod withdrawal sequence is obtained by well-known
(point 3), 140 MW(e) (point 4), at 150 MW(e) (point 4) and 160
optimization method of Adaptive Simulated Annealing scheme
MW(e) (point 6 : Full Power) are determined using above
developed for this purpose. In this scheme, random control rod
optimized code. Accordingly TAPS chalk out their programme
patterns are generated as test cases and given as input to
for the power escalation. The off gas activity trends of the past
COMETG. The output of COMETG includes core operating state,
cycles are shown for different cycles as point values of BOC and
thermal limits and 3-D core power distribution. The core power
EOC for unit number 2.
distribution thus obtained is compared with the desired Haling
power distribution (power distribution at EOC) with the

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R & D for Boiling Water Reactors

A.K.Kulkarni, <akkul@barc.gov.in>
Off-gas Activity Trend

. The burn-up compensation requirements

5.2 TAPS CORE SHROUD ACOUSTIC LOAD

The off gas activities are also shown in details for both units
EVALUATION AND TRANSIENT DYNAMIC
during entire cycle operation.
RESPONSE

Potential safety concerns have been raised by regulatory bodies

regarding the 360 degrees circumferential separation of
TAPS-BWR core shroud following LOCA. Material degradation
accelerated by crevices, residual stress, cold work, sensitisation,
and corrosive environment are detrimental for impulsive
acoustic load due to pipe break. This might either prevent full
insertion of the control rods or open a gap in the shroud large
enough to preclude adequate core cooling. Validation of
in-house 3D finite element code FLUSHEL for the coupled
fluid-structure interaction transient analysis of light water
reactor components in case of sub cooled and saturated
blowdown accidents has been made with the simulation of
German HDR (Heiss-Dampf Reaktor) v.32 LOCA experiment on
a full scale PWR model for single and two phase blowdown
problems. Implementation of unified sub cooled and saturated
critical flow models, non-equilibrium effects due to flashing for
the rarefaction wave propagation have been made in the code.
Acoustic load evaluation and structural safety assessment of
core shroud of TAPS-BWR - postulated Recirculation Line Break
(RLB) was subsequently carried out with this code.

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 R & D for Boiling Water Reactors

Acoustic Pressure Time History in TAPS Down comer

TAPS BWR Vessel with Core Shroud

Shell modes of TAPS Core

R.K. Singh, <rksingh@barc.gov.in>

Comparison of Acoustic Pressure Time History and

% Error with Experiment for 2 phase blow down
within down comer of German HDR experiment.

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