Assessment of severe accident source terms in pressurized-water reactors with a 40% mixed-oxide and 60% low-enriched uranium core using MELCOR 1.8.5 [report]

Randall O. Gauntt, Andrew S. Goldmann, Kenneth C. Wagner, Dana Auburn Powers, Scott G. Ashbaugh, Pamela Longmire
2010 unpublished
As part of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) research program to evaluate the impact of using mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel in commercial nuclear power plants, a study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of the usage of MOX fuel on the consequences of postulated severe accidents. A series of 23 severe accident calculations was performed using MELCOR 1.8.5 for a four-loop Westinghouse reactor with an ice condenser containment. The calculations covered five basic accident classes that were
more » ... ed as the risk-and consequence-dominant accident sequences in plant-specific probabilistic risk assessments for the McGuire and Catawba nuclear plants, including station blackouts and loss-of-coolant accidents of various sizes, with both early and late containment failures.
doi:10.2172/984119 fatcat:55tvrkiaxjgida7hbaoh42ms3i