COCOSYS: Status of development and validation of the German containment code system

For the simulation of severe accident propagation in containments of nuclear power plants it is necessary to assess the efficiency of severe accident measures under conditions as realistic as possible. Therefore the German containment code system COCOSYS is under development and validation at GRS. The main objective is to provide a code system on the basis of mostly mechanistic models for the comprehensive simulation of all relevant processes and plant states during severe accidents in the containment of light water reactors covering the design basis accidents, too. COCOSYS is being used for the identification of possible deficits in plant safety, qualification of the safety reserves of the entire system, assessment of damage-limiting or mitigating accident management measures, support of integral codes in PSA level 2 studies and safety evaluation of new plants.COCOSYS is composed of three main modules, which are separate executable files. These modules are covering thermal hydraulics including hydrogen combustion, fission products mainly aerosols and iodine behaviour, and corium behaviour with molten corium concrete interaction. The communication between these modules is realized via PVM (parallel virtual machine).COCOSYS is subject to an ongoing internal and external validation process. At present this validation process is mainly based on tests being performed in the German ThAI facility. Experiments to be performed in ThAI dealing with hydrogen combustion, recombiner behaviour and aerosol and iodine issues are currently subject of the just started OECD-THAI project. Examples given for the successful validation are the participation in the OECD/NEA ISP-47 and the benchmark for the CCI-2 test in the frame of the OECD-MCCI project.For example COCOSYS has been used in licensing procedure performed for the installation of catalytic recombiners in German nuclear power plants. At present COCOSYS is in use for the licensing process of the new Finnish EPR plant on the industrial side.Improvements and model extensions like pyrolysis processes, direct containment heating and the combined use with CFD models are just ongoing.