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@BOOK{Moormann:1304,
author = {Moormann, Rainer},
title = {{A} safety re-evaluation of the {AVR} pebble bed reactor
operation and its consequences for future {HTR} concepts},
volume = {4275},
issn = {0944-2952},
address = {Jülich},
publisher = {Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag},
reportid = {PreJuSER-1304, Juel-4275},
series = {Berichte des Forschungszentrums Jülich},
pages = {VIII, 37 p.},
year = {2008},
note = {Record converted from VDB: 12.11.2012},
abstract = {The AVR pebble bed reactor (46 MWth) was operated 1967-88
at coolant outlet temperatures up to 990°C. A principle
difference of pebble bed HTRs as AVR to conventional
reactors is the continuous movement of fuel element pebbles
through the core which complicates thermohydraulic, nuclear
and safety estimations. Also because of a lack of other
experience AVR operation is still a relevant basis for
future pebble bed HTRs and thus requires careful
examination. This paper deals mainly with some
insufficiently published unresolved safety problems of AVR
operation and of pebble bed HTRs but skips the widely known
advantageous features of pebble bed HTRs. The AVR primary
circuit is heavily contaminated with metallic fission
products (Sr-90, Cs-137) which create problems in current
dismantling. The amount of this contamination is not exactly
known, but the evaluation of fission product deposition
experiments indicates that the end of life contamination
reached several percent of a single core inventory, which is
some orders of magnitude more than precalculated and far
more than in large LWRs. A major fraction of this
contamination is bound on graphitic dust and thus partly
mobile in depressurization accidents, which has to be
considered in safety analyses of future reactors. A
re-evaluation of the AVR contamination is performed here in
order to quantify consequences for future HTRs (400
MW$_{th]$). It leads to the conclusion that the AVR
contamination was mainly caused by inadmissible high core
temperatures, increasing fission product release rates, and
not - as presumed in the past - by inadequate fuel quality
only. The high AVR core temperatures were detected not
earlier than one year before final AVR shut-down, because a
pebble bed core cannot yet be equipped with instruments. The
maximum core temperatures are still unknown but were more
than 200 K higher than calculated. Further, azimuthal
temperature differences at the active core margin of up to
200 K were observed, probably due to a power asymmetry.
Unpredictable hot gas currents with temperatures > 1100°C,
which may have harmed the steam generator, were measured in
the top reflector range. After detection of the inadmissible
core temperatures, the AVR hot gas temperatures were
strongly reduced for safety reasons. Thus a safe and
reliable AVR operation at high coolant temperatures, which
is taken as a foundation of the pebble bed VHTR development
in Generation IV, was not conform with reality. Despite of
remarkable effort spent in this problem the high core
temperatures, the power asymmetry and the hot gas currents
are not yet understood. It remains uncertain whether
convincing explanations can be found on basis of the poor
AVR data and whether pebble bed specific effects are acting.
Respective examinations are however ongoing. Reliable
predictions of pebble bed temperatures are at present not
yet possible. [...]},
cin = {IEF-6},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)VDB814},
pnm = {ohne FE},
pid = {G:(DE-Juel1)FUEK307},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)3},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1304},
}