Validation of the U.S. NRC Coupled Code System TRITON/ TRACE/PARCS with the Special Power Excursion Reactor Test III (SPERT III)

摘要

The Special Power Excursion Reactor Test III (SPERT III) was a series of reactivity insertion experiments conducted in the 1950s. This paper describes the validation of the U.S. NRC Coupled Code system TRITON/PARCS/TRACE to simulate reactivity insertion accidents (RIA) by using several of the SPERT III tests. The work here used the SPERT III E-core configuration tests in which the RIA was initiated by ejecting a control rod. The resulting superprompt reactivity excursion and negative reactivity feedback produced the familiar bell shaped power increase and decrease. The energy deposition during such a power peak has important safety consequences and provides validation basis for core coupled multi-physics codes. The transients of five separate tests are used to benchmark the PARCS/TRACE coupled code. The models were thoroughly validated using the original experiment documentation.