An experimental study on the thermal-hydraulic phenomena in the Hybrid Safety Injection Tank using a separate effect test facility

This paper reports an experimental research for investigating thermal hydraulic phenomena of Hybrid Safety Injection Tank (Hybrid SIT) using a separate effect test facility in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The Hybrid SIT is a passive safety injection system that enables the safety injection water to be injected into the reactor pressure vessel throughout all operating pressures by connecting the top of the SIT and the pressurizer (PZR). The separate effect test (SET) facility of Hybrid SIT, which is designed based on the APR+ power plant, comprises a PZR, Hybrid SIT, pressure balancing line (PBL), injection line (IL), nitrogen gas line, and refueling water tank (RWT). Furthermore, the pressure loss range of the SET facility was analyzed and compared with that of the reference nuclear power plant. In this research, a condition for balancing the pressure between the Hybrid SIT and PZR is examined and the effects of different variables affecting the pressure balancing, which are flow rate, injection velocity of steam and initial water level, are also investigated. The condition for balancing the pressure between the Hybrid SIT and PZR was derived theoretically from a pressure network for the Hybrid SIT, pressurizer, and reactor pressure vessel. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis as a theoretical approach was conducted on the pressure variations in relation to the rate of steam condensation inside the Hybrid SIT. The results showed that pressure of the Hybrid SIT was predominantly determined by the rate of steam condensation. The results showed that if the rate of condensation increased or decreased by 10%, the Hybrid SIT pressure at the pressure balancing point decreased or increased roughly by 10%, respectively.