Features and performance of a coupled three-dimensional thermal-hydraulic/kinetics TRAC-PF1/NEM pressurized water reactor (PWR) analysis code

This paper summarizes the current status of the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) version of the coupled three-dimensional (3-D) thermal-hydraulic/kinetics TRAC-PF1/NEM code for pressurized water reactor (PWR) transient and accident analysis and describes applications to reactivity insertion accident (RIA) simulations as well as recent developments. The TRAC-PF1/NEM methodology utilizes closely coupled 3-D thermal-hydraulics and 3-D core neutronics transient models to simulate the vessel and a 1-D simulation of the primary system. An efficient and flexible cross-section generation procedure was developed and implemented into TRAC-PF1/NEM. These features make the coupled code capable of modeling PWR reactivity transients, including boron dilution transients, in a reasonable amount of computer time. Three-dimensional studies on hot zero power (HZP) rod ejection and main steam line break (MSLB) transients in a PWR, as well as a large break loss-of-coolant-accident (LBLOCA) and boron dilution transients, were accomplished using TRAC-PF1/NEM. The results obtained demonstrate that this code is appropriate for analysis of the space-dependent neutronics and thermal-hydraulic coupled phenomena related to most current safety issues.