Analysis of the Consequences of an Accident with Damage to a Horizontal Experimental Channel During IR-8 Operation at Nominal Power

The consequences of postulated beyond design-basis accidents in the IR-8 reactor are now being analyzed. Since the development and construction of a three-dimensional model of IR-8 the ATHLET systems code has been used to perform computational thermohydraulic analysis of the consequences of an accident involving damage to a horizontal experimental channel. The maximum possible dewatering of fuel assemblies in the core (42 cm) with a leak appearing in a 100 mm in diameter channel due to a 2.5 mm gap opening along the entire perimeter, which could be due to the failure (detachment) of the bottom plate, is analyzed.