• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권11호
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• pp.4159-4169
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• 2022

Hydrogen mitigation using Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners (PARs) has been widely accepted methodology inside reactor containment of accident struck Nuclear Power Plants. They reduce hydrogen concentration inside reactor containment by recombining it with oxygen from containment air on catalyst surfaces at ambient temperatures. Exothermic heat of reaction drives the product steam upwards, establishing natural convection around PAR, thus invoking homogenisation inside containment. CFD models resolving individual catalyst plate channels of PAR provide good insight about temperature and hydrogen recombination. But very thin catalyst plates compared to large dimensions of the enclosures involved result in intensive calculations. Hence, empirical correlations specific to PARs being modelled are often used in integral containment studies. In this work, an experimentally validated CFD model of PAR has been employed for developing an empirical correlation for Indian PAR. For this purpose, detailed parametric study involving different gas mixture variables at PAR inlet has been performed. For each case, respective values of gas mixture variables at recombiner outlet have been tabulated. The obtained data matrix has then been processed using regression analysis to obtain a set of correlations between inlet and outlet variables. The empirical correlation thus developed, can be easily plugged into commercially available CFD software.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• 제40권2호
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• pp.112-119
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• 2016

Many studies have been conducted on the performance of a passive autocatalytic recombiner (PAR), but not many have focused on the locations where the PAR is installed. During a severe accident in a nuclear reactor containment, a large amount of hydrogen gas can be produced and released into the containment, leading to hydrogen deflagration or a detonation. A PAR is a hydrogen mitigation method that is widely implemented in current and advanced light water reactors. Therefore, for this study, a PAR was installed at different locations in order to investigate the difference in hydrogen reduction rate. The results indicate that the hydrogen reduction rate of a PAR is proportional to the distance between the hydrogen induction location and the bottom wall.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권9호
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• pp.3194-3201
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• 2023

In water-cooled power reactor, hydrogen is generated in case of steam zirconium reaction during severe accident condition and later on in addition to hydrogen; CO is also generated during molten corium concrete interaction after reactor pressure vessel failure. Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners (PARs) are provided in the containment for hydrogen management. The performance of the PARs in presence of hydrogen and carbon monoxide along with air has been evaluated. Depending on the conditions, CO may either react with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2) or act as catalyst poison, reducing the catalyst activity and hence the hydrogen conversion efficiency. CFD analysis has been carried out to determine the effect of CO on catalyst plate temperature for 2 & 4% v/v H₂ and 1-4% v/v CO with air at the recombiner inlet for a reported experiment. The results of CFD simulations have been compared with the reported experimental data for the model validation. The reaction at the recombiner plate is modelled based on diffusion theory. The developed CFD model has been used to predict the maximum catalyst temperature and outlet species concentration for different inlet velocity and temperatures of the mixture gas. The obtained results were used to fit a correlation for obtaining removal rate of carbon monoxide inside PAR as a function of inlet velocity and concentrations.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1999년도 춘계학술발표회요약집
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• pp.185-185
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• 1999

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• 제39권5호
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• pp.516-521
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• 2015

This study is about a hydrogen mitigation system in a containment building like an offshore or a nuclear plant. A hydrogen explosion is possibly happened after condensation of steam if hydrogen releases with steam in a containment buildings. Passive autocatalytic recombiner is the one of the measures, but the performance of this equipment is not sure because the distribution of hydrogen is very irregular and is not predicted correctly. This study proposes a new approach for improving the hydrogen removing performance with hydrogen-guiding property. The steam is simulated and analysed. The results show that the shallow air containment reduced over 55% of the released hydrogen and the deep air containment type reduces over 80% of released hydrogen.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.302-309
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• 2017

격납건물에서 수소폭발이 발생된다면 다중방어벽을 훼손하고 다량의 방사능 물질을 방출시킬 수 있기 때문에 노심용융과 함께 발생되는 수소를 효과적으로 제어하고 제거해야 하지만 사고 원인의 다양성과 수소분포, 거동의 불규칙성 때문에 폭발 저감을 위한 대책마련이 쉽지 않다. 본 논문에서는 가장 넓게 사용되는 수소저감 기술인 피동촉매형수소재결합기(PAR)의 수소저감 효율을 높이기 위해 외부 유동을 고려한 가이드 구조에 관하여 연구하였다. 2단 촉매 PAR 내부형상을 기본으로 하여 PAR 외부에 가이드를 부착하였을 때 유체의 거동과 수소저감효율에 대해서 해석을 수행하였다. 유동이 아래에서 위로 올라가는 경우 가이드 높이 150mm, 촉매와 가이드 직접 부착, 가이드 각도가 $60^{\circ}$인 구조가 최적으로 판단되며 유동이 옆에서 불어오는 경우 촉매와 가이드 거리 100mm인 구조가 최적으로 판단되고, 유동이 위에서 아래로 내려오는 경우 직접부착, 높이 50mm 가이드 구조가 최적으로 판단된다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.33-46
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• 2015

During the past 10 years, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has performed a study to control hydrogen gas in the containment of the nuclear power plants. Before the Fukushima accident, analytical activities for gas distribution analysis in experiments and plants were primarily conducted using a multidimensional code: the GASFLOW. After the Fukushima accident, the COM3D code, which can simulate a multidimensional hydrogen explosion, was introduced in 2013 to complete the multidimensional hydrogen analysis system. The code validation efforts of the multidimensional codes of the GASFLOW and the COM3D have continued to increase confidence in the use of codes using several international experimental data. The OpenFOAM has been preliminarily evaluated for APR1400 containment, based on experience from coded validation and the analysis of hydrogen distribution and explosion using the multidimensional codes, the GASFLOW and the COM3D. Hydrogen safety in nuclear power has become a much more important issue after the Fukushima event in which hydrogen explosions occurred. The KAERI is preparing a large-scale test that can be used to validate the performance of domestic passive autocatalytic recombiners (PARs) and can provide data for the validation of the severe accident code being developed in Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권12호
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• pp.4382-4394
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• 2023

Passive auto-catalytic recombiners (PARs) are widely used to mitigate a hydrogen hazard. The first step to evaluate the hydrogen safety by PARs is to obtain qualified test data of the PARs for validation of their analytical model. SPARC PAR tests SP8 and SP9 were conducted to evaluate the hydrogen recombination characteristics of a honeycomb-shaped catalyst PAR. To obtain the hydrogen recombination rate from the PAR test data, two methods, Method-1 and Method-2, introduced by the THAI project, were applied. Since a large gradient of hydrogen concentration developed during hydrogen injection can cause a large error in the hydrogen mass obtained by integrating the measured hydrogen concentrations, a gate was installed at the PAR inlet to homogenize hydrogen in the test vessel before the PAR operation in the tests. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code with a PAR model was also applied to evaluate the characteristics of the PAR recombination according to the PAR inlet conditions, and the results were compared with those from Method-1 and Method-2. It was confirmed that the recombination rates from Method-1 require a correction factor to be compatible with results from Method-2 and the CFD simulation in the case of the SPARC-PAR tests.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.1174-1183
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• 2016

Hydrogen release during severe accidents poses a serious threat to containment integrity. Mitigating procedures are necessary to prevent global or local explosions, especially in large steel shell containments. The management of hydrogen safety and prevention of over-pressurization could be implemented through a hydrogen reduction system and spray system. During the course of the hypothetical large break loss-of-coolant accident in a nuclear power plant, hydrogen is generated by a reaction between steam and the fuel-cladding inside the reactor pressure vessel and also core concrete interaction after ejection of melt into the cavity. The MELCOR 1.8.6 was used to assess core degradation and containment behavior during the large break loss-of-coolant accident without the actuation of the safety injection system except for accumulators in Beznau nuclear power plant. Also, hydrogen distribution in containment and performance of hydrogen reduction system were investigated.

• 공업화학
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.648-652
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• 2011

수소를 제어하기 위한 기술 중 최근에 각광받는 방법으로는 피동형 촉매 재결합기(PAR)가 있다. PAR설비에서의 핵심기술인 촉매를 제조한 후 이를 이용하여 수소 재결합 성능 평가를 실시하였다. 실험은 공간속도(GHSV)를 $35000{\sim}100000hr^{-1}$로 변경하며 실시한 결과 공간속도가 증가할수록 수소의 전화율은 감소하였으나 시간당 제거되는 수소의 중량은 크게 증가하였다. 백금의 담지량을 달리하여 촉매를 제조한 후 실험을 수행한 결과 3 wt%에서는 별다른 전화율 차이를 보이지 않았으나 활성금속의 담지량이 증가하면서 승온속도가 증가되는 것을 확인 할 수 있었다. 이와 같은 공간속도 및 촉매 담지량 실험 결과 본 촉매는 상온 상압에서 80% 이상의 높은 전화율을 보이는 것을 확인 할 수 있었다.