LUT infrastructure for VVER safety studies
20th Symposium of AER on VVER Reactor Physics and Reactor Safety (2010, Hanasaari, Espoo, Finland)
Reactor dynamics and safety analysis
Abstract
Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) gives most extensive education in nuclear
engineering in Finland and it has the largest experimental facilities. The research concentrates
mostly on thermal hydraulics phenomena. The integral facility PACTEL models the Loviisa
VVER-440 primary circuit in height scale 1:1 and volume scale 1:305. Now it has been
modified to include two vertical type steam generators and new loops in order to be able to
also model phenomena of the EPR type PWR which is been constructed in Finland ? it has
become PWR PACTEL. However, the ability to carry out VVER tests has not been lost
because the original PACTEL can still be used due to the ingenious construction of the
complex. The analyzing calculations of the PACTEL and PWR PACTEL tests are carried out
in LUT both with the Finnish code APROS and the US code TRACE. Recently the work on
VVERs has mostly been carried out with different separate effect test facilities concentrating
on pressure vessel wall cooling, straining effects, and emergency core cooling. In these
connections the CFD codes, e.g. Fluent are the main calculation code types utilized.