- Author
-
McCulloch, W. H.
- Title
- Hydrogen-Burn Survival Program.
- Coporate
- Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM
- Sponsor
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
- Report
-
CONF-82103719; NUREG/CP0037,
1982,
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- DOE40-55075
NRC-FIN-A1270,A1306
- Book or Conf
- 10th Water Reactor Safety Research Information Meeting, October 12-15, 1982,
Gaithersburg, MD,
1-17 p.,
1982
- Keywords
-
nuclear power plants
|
hydrogen
- Abstract
- In severe nuclear power station accidents, there is a possibility that substantial quantities of hydrogen may be released into the containment building. Analyses have indicated that under some circumstances in some containments there is the potential for the release of enough hydrogen to threaten the integrity of the containment building should the hydrogen be ignited. To prevent the accumulation of dangerous concentrations of hydrogen, some plants and plant designs now include systems to deliberately ignite the hydrogen before potentially damaging levels are reached. This protects the containment building but presents a challenge to equipment which might be subjected to repeated hydrogen burns. Of particular concern is the exposure of components vital to the sa fe operation of the plant. As part of the response to this issue, the Hydrogen Burn Survival (HBS) Program was initiated at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, (SNLA) by the Offices of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) late in FY 1981. The near-term goal of the HBS Program is to provide to the NRC, specifically to NRR, an Analytical procedure whereby equipment survivability analyses sumbmitted by license applicants may be evaluated. In the course of generating this analytical procedure, a more general purpose is being served, i.e., the development of a more definitive understanding of the phenomena of hydrogen combustion in reactor containments and the responses of safety-related equipment to hydrogen burn environments.