Study on Seismic Response Characteristics of Reactor Vessel Internals and Fuel Assembly for OBE Elimination

Study on Seismic Response Characteristics of Reactor Vessel Internals and Fuel Assembly for OBE Elimination

To resolve a general argument about OBE elimination for the future nuclear power plant design, seismic responses of reactor vessel internals and fuel assembly for Ulchin nuclear power plant units 3 and 4 in Korea are investigated as an example. Dynamic analyses of the coupled internals and core are performed for the seismic excitations using the reactor vessel motions. By investigating the response relations between OBE and SSE and their response characteristics, the critical components for OBE loading are addressed. Also the fuel assembly responses are calculated using the core plate motions and their behavior is found to be insignificant for OBE elimination.