%0 Journal Article
%T Integral Test Facility PKL: Experimental PWR Accident Investigation
%A Klaus Umminger
%A Lars Dennhardt
%A Simon Schollenberger
%A Bernhard Schoen
%J Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/891056
%X Investigations of the thermal-hydraulic behavior of pressurized water reactors under accident conditions have been carried out in the PKL test facility at AREVA NP in Erlangen, Germany for many years. The PKL facility models the entire primary side and significant parts of the secondary side of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) at a height scale of 1£¿:£¿1. Volumes, power ratings and mass flows are scaled with a ratio of 1£¿:£¿145. The experimental facility consists of 4 primary loops with circulation pumps and steam generators (SGs) arranged symmetrically around the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). The investigations carried out encompass a very broad spectrum from accident scenario simulations with large, medium, and small breaks, over the investigation of shutdown procedures after a wide variety of accidents, to the systematic investigation of complex thermal-hydraulic phenomena. This paper presents a survey of test objectives and programs carried out to date. It also describes the test facility in its present state. Some important results obtained over the years with focus on investigations carried out since the beginning of the international cooperation are exemplarily discussed. 1. Introduction Complex thermal-hydraulic system codes are used for the analysis of accident sequences in pressurized water reactors. The necessity to verify the knowledge gained using such codes by experiments in suitable test facilities resulted in the construction of the large-scale test facility PKL (from the German abbreviation for Prim£¿rkreislauf) modeling a 1300£¿MW class PWR. The PKL test facility has been in operation since 1977; however, in the meantime, the objectives of the experiments performed at the PKL test facility have changed considerably with the result that the test rig has been refitted many times to suit the additional and ongoing tasks and also to match latest developments, for example, in the fields of measuring instrumentation and data processing. Since the commencement of experiments at the PKL test facility, the various phases of the experiments have always reflected and given priority to current safety issues. The primary objective of all PKL experiments has been and remains the experimental investigation of thermal-hydraulic processes in PWRs with respect to the response of the overall system. To some extent the investigations also include the behavior of individual components and subsystems during the simulation of operational transients and accidents. The tests performed to date (in total more than 150 integral experiments) have altogether
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/stni/2012/891056/