Coupled neutronic/thermal-hydraulic calculations in support to the power uprate of the Ringhals-3 PWR

TL;DRAbstract

Many power utilities worldwide are applying for power uprates, i.e. for increasing the power output of their reactors. The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) received an application related to the Ringhals-3 Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) in March 2004. The increase of the thermal power in Ringhals-3 is a relatively large one: from 2778 MWth (original power level - 100%) to 3160MWth (113.5%). It is essential to identify the main consequences of the increased power level of the reactor, and their impact on the safety of the plant. For that purpose, coupled neutronic/thermal-hydraulic calculations have to be performed. This paper presents the on-going efforts to develop a state-of-the-art coupled Ringhals-3 model based on the use of the PARCS and RELAP5 codes, for modelling the neutron flux and the flow velocity/temperature fields, respectively. On the neutronic side, a unique cross-section interface, allowing feeding PARCS with realistic data, was developed. On the thermal-hydrau

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