Modeling the progression of accidents in light water reactor

							                   Modeling the progression of accidents in light water reactor nuclear power plants
                                                     MELCOR

MELCOR[1] is a fully integrated, engineering-level computer code whose primary purpose is to model the progression
of accidents in light water reactor nuclear power plants. A broad spectrum of severe accident phenomena in both
boiling and pressurized water reactors is treated in MELCOR in a unified framework, Current uses of MELCOR
include estimation of fission product source terms and their sensitivities and uncertainties in a variety of applications.

The MELCOR code is composed of an executive driver and a number of major modules, or packages, that together
model the major systems of a reactor plant and their generally coupled interactions. Reactor plant systems and their
response to off-normal or accident conditions include:
    • thermal-hydraulic response of the primary reactor coolant system, the reactor cavity, the containment, and the
        confinement buildings,
    • core uncovering (loss of coolant), fuel heat up, cladding oxidation, fuel degradation (loss of rod geometry),
        and core material melting and relocation,
    • heat up of reactor vessel lower head from relocated fuel materials and the thermal and mechanical loading and
        failure of the vessel lower head, and transfer of core materials to the reactor vessel cavity,
    • core-concrete attack and ensuing aerosol generation,
    • in-vessel and ex-vessel hydrogen production, transport, and combustion,
    • fission product release (aerosol and vapour), transport, and deposition,
    • behaviour of radioactive aerosols in the reactor containment building, including scrubbing in water pools, and
        aerosol mechanics in the containment atmosphere such as particle agglomeration and gravitational settling,
        and,
    • impact of engineered safety features on thermal-hydraulic and radionuclide behaviour.

The various code packages have been written using a carefully designed modular structure with well-defined interfaces
between them. This allows the exchange of compete and consistent information among them so that all phenomena are
explicitly coupled at every step. The structure also facilitates maintenance and upgrading of the code.

Initially, the MELCOR code was envisioned as being predominantly parametric with respect to modelling complicated
physical processes (in the interest of quick code execution time and a general lack of understanding of reactor accident
physics). However, over the years as phenomenological uncertainties have been reduced and user expectations and
demands from MELCOR have increased, the models implemented into MELCOR have become increasingly best
estimate in nature. The increased speed (and decreased cost) of modern computers (including PCs) has eased many of
the perceived constraints on MELCOR code development. Today, most MELCOR models are mechanistic, with
capabilities approaching those of the most detailed codes of a few years ago. The use of models that are strictly
parametric is limited, in general, to areas of high phenomenological uncertainty where there is no consensus concerning
an acceptable mechanistic approach.

Current uses of MELCOR often include uncertainty analyses and sensitivity studies. To facilitate these uses, many of
the mechanistic models have been coded with optional adjustable parameters. This does not affect the mechanistic
nature of the modelling, but it does allow the analyst to easily address questions of how particular modelling
parameters affect the course of a calculated transient. Parameters of this type, as well as such numerical parameters as
convergence criteria and iteration limits, are coded in MELCOR as sensitivity coefficients, which may be modified
through optional code input.

MELCOR modelling is general and flexible, making use of a "control volume" approach in describing the plant system.
No specific nodalization of a system is forced on the user, which allows a choice of the degree of detail appropriate to
the task at hand. Reactor- specific geometry is imposed only in modelling the reactor core. Even here, one basic model
suffices for representing either a boiling water reactor (BVVR) or a pressurized water reactor (PVVR) core, and a wide
range of levels of modelling detail is possible. For example, MELCOR has been successfully used to model East
European reactor designs such as the Russian VVER, and RMBK-reactor classes.

This MELCOR version 1.8.5, released to users in October 2000, contains many new modelling features as well as
improvements to existing models. New models include an iodine chemistry model, a passive auto catalytic recombiner
model, many improvements to the core degradation modelling, updates to several of the code default values,
improvements to the hygroscopic aerosol model, and enhancements to both the user control function feature and
plotting features.

While the new MELCOR release provides many improvements over the previous version, post-MELCOR 1.8.5
development activities continue, with a particular focus on further improvements to the core degradation modelling,
including incorporating the core baffle structure into the COR package and improving the modelling of crusts and
molten pool regions, both to achieve a better simulation for the TMI-2 accident progression. Core reflood modelling is
also in progress.

[1] R. O. Gauntt, R. K. Cole, C. M. Erickson, R. G. Gido, R- D. Gasser, S. B. Rodrigez and M. F. Young, MELCOR
Computer Code Manuals, Version 1.8.5 May 2000, NUREG/CR-6119, SAND-2417/2, May 2000.