Shutdown idling performance of the nuclear main coolant pump under station blackout accident: An optimization study

Abstract

Lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) is an important reactor type of the Generation IV nuclear energy, and the main coolant pump (MCP) is the only and most critical power equipment in primary circuit of LFR. The shutdown idling performance of the MCP, is one of the most important safety indicators in the event of a station blackout accident. When the motor loses its power supply, the MCP needs to run under the inertia of the flywheel to ensure the coolant flow for a short time. This study mainly focuses on the idling mathematical model of the MCP under power failure accidents. In this study, taking the shutdown idling performance of the MCP as the optimization goal, the parametric optimization analysis of the impeller and diffuser structure of the MCP was carried out. Specifically, based on the platform ISIGHT, the software of CFturbo, TurboGrid, CFX, Matlab and FLOWMASTER are systematically integrated, the automated 3D modeling, automatic meshing and automatic CFD calculation of different hydraulic model of the MCP are realized. And the neural network mathematical model between the geometric parameters of MCP and the idling performance indicators is established. The study shows that there is a strong linear relationship between the idling performance of the MCP and its head and shaft power, and meridian parameters of Δβ ₂ , Z ₁ , Φ _1h and the radial surface parameters of Δβ ₁ and Δβ ₂ , Z ₁ and Φ _1h have the greatest impact on the idling performance of MCP.