Numerical study on long-term passive heat removal of EPRHR cooling water tank (CWT) using heat pipe heat exchanger

• Published in: Annals of nuclear energy 2022-09, Vol.175, p.109212, Article 109212
• Main Authors: Qiao, Ke, Tao, Hanzhong, Li, Yannan, Zhao, Baoming, Song, Chao, Li, Wei, Cheng, Jianjie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Heat pipe heat exchanger; HPR1000; Layout optimization; Natural convection; PCCS cooling water tank
• ISSN: 0306-4549; 1873-2100
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109212

•A long-term passive cooling system is proposed for HPR1000.•The heating power is below 9 MW, while the Tave of the pool water is below 90 °C.•The position of the tube bundle affects the Tave, and when γ = 3/4, Tave is the smallest. The EPRHR in the HPR1000 adopts natural circulation to meet the heat removal requirements of the containment for 72-hours under accident conditions. To reduce the evaporation depletion of water in CWT and enhances the passive cooling capability of the EPRHR, a long-term passive cooling scheme based on a heat pipe heat exchanger is proposed for CWT in this paper. Experimental study and numerical simulation are used to study the natural convection characteristics in the CWT. The results show that the scheme can take away 9 MW heat load as the average water temperature (Tave) is below 90 °C. The heat removal ability of the tube bundle is weakened row by row and the maximum difference of heat removal ability between tube bundles is 23%. The position of the tube bundles affects the Tave, and when the dimensionless layout factor (γ) = 3/4, Tave (346.34 K) is the smallest.