This research presents an analysis of thermal stratification in the reactor cold leg of the Advanced Plant Experiment-Combustion Engineering (APEX-CE). This phenomenon may be a precursor leading to a Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) event in a nuclear power plant. This work was performed in support of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory...
Downward flow opposing mixed convection conditions have been studied using the FLUENT CFD code. This work was comprised of two primary objectives. The first was to study core channel flow reversal susceptibility in the Gas Reactor Test Section (GRTS) at low flow conditions. The second objective was the development of...
A one-sixth scaled facility was constructed at Oregon State University to determine
the pressure losses around Westinghouse's AP1000 Passive Containment
Cooling System. An explanation of the AP1000 Passive Containment Cooling System
is given. This study examined the pressure loss and loss coefficient around the
180 degree turn of the Passive...
The Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics (NE/RHP) at Oregon State University (OSU) has been developing an innovative modular reactor plant concept since being initiated with a Department of Energy (DoE) grant in 1999.
This concept, the Multi-Application Small Light Water Reactor (MASLWR), is an integral pressurized water...
The Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) has two possible core configurations, a hexagonal prismatic and a pebble bed. It is essential that an experimental facility be built for the validation of computer codes for the safe operation of the VHTR. The scaling of the prismatic core configuration has been analyzed...
Five U.S. high performance research reactors (HPRRs) are currently part of an international nonproliferation program with the objective of ultimately converting their highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel to a new high density, low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel while still maintaining their reactor kinetic and thermal hydraulic performance. A uranium-molybdenum (U-Mo)...
The Generation IV Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) design is being actively
studied in various countries for application due to its inherent passive safe design,
higher thermal efficiencies, and proposed capability of providing high temperature
process heat. The pebble bed core is one of two core designs used in gas...
The implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) method [16] for radiative transfer, developed in 1971, provides numerical solutions to the tightly-coupled, highly-nonlinear radiative heat transfer equations in many physical situations. Despite its popularity, there are instances of overheating in the solution for particular choices of time steps and spatial grid sizes. To...
With recent advancements in material science, industrial operations are being conducted at higher and higher temperatures. This is apparent in the nuclear industry where a division of the field is working to develop the High Temperature Gas Reactor and the Very High Temperature Gas Reactor concurrently. Both of these facilities...
The purpose of this thesis is to design a robust test facility for a small space nuclear power system and model its physical behavior under different scenarios. The test facility will be used to simulate a 1-10kWe nuclear reactor, its electrical generation, and heat removal capabilities. This simulator will be...