Assessment of dose during an SGTR

Abstract

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires utilities to determine the response of a pressurized water reactor to a steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) as part of the safety analysis for the plant. The SGTR analysis includes assumptions regarding the iodine concentration in the reactor coolant system (RCS) due to iodine spikes, primary flashing and bypass fractions, and iodine partitioning in the secondary coolant system (SCS). Experimental and analytical investigations have recently been completed wherein these assumptions were tested to determine whether and to what degree they were conservative (that is, whether they result in a calculated iodine source term/dose that is at least as large or larger than that expected during an actual event). The current study has the objective to assess the overall effects of the results of these investigations on the calculated iodine dose to the environment during an SGTR. To assist in this study, a computer program, DOSE, was written. This program uses a simple, non-mechanistic model to calculate the iodine source term to the environment during an SGTR as a function of water mass inventories and flow rates and iodine concentrations in the RCS and SCS. The principal conclusion of this study is that the iodine concentrationmore » in the RCS is the dominant parameter, due to the dominance of primary flashing on the iodine source term.« less