Effects of Non-Condensable Gas on Characteristics of Natural Circulation Flow of Isolation Condenser

Abstract

An isolation condenser (IC) is a passive core cooling system in boiling water reactors. The cooling performance of IC is deteriorated when hydrogen generated in the core flows into the IC pipes. In this study, we conducted high pressure experiments using natural circulation loop with non-condensable gas injection, where helium was used to simulate hydrogen effect on the IC. The reaching distance of steam in the heat transfer tube was estimated by observing the region where nucleate boiling occurred on the outer surface of the heat transfer tube, and the heat transfer coefficient was estimated. The heat transfer coefficient hardly changed when helium was injected to the loop that indicates injected helium was not accumulated in the heat transfer tube. The system pressure at quasi-steady state increased with increasing amount of the injected helium. Since the differential pressure at the down comer section increased by helium injection, the injected helium may be accumulated in the section, leading to increment of the system pressure.