Integral System Testing and Thermal-Hydraulic modeling of the Prismatic Block Core Design HTGR
Abstract: Among the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) designs, the modular High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) are very attractive, due to their inherent safety features, high power conversion efficiency, and potential of providing high-temperature process heat.
The performance of HTGR systems during accident scenarios is a key consideration in the design, safety analysis, and licensing of these reactors since it is during these events that peak core temperatures and vessel wall temperatures can be reached.
A key part of the HTGRs deployment in the US is the development of an integral test facility (IET) that enables testing of accident scenarios and supports gas cooled reactors thermal-hydraulic codes verification and validation.
This talk will scope the modeling efforts, design, test matrix, and instrumentation of the OSU High Temperature Test Facility (HTTF). Also, the future SET and IET benchmarks on Pressurized Conduction Cooldown (PCC) and DCC (Depressurized Conduction Cooldown) events in HTGRs will be outlined.
Bio: Izabela Gutowska’s expertise is in nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics, with an emphasis on the application of computational fluid dynamics to optimize fluid flow and heat transfer in nuclear reactor systems and to perform safety analysis. Her research interests scope experimental and computational thermal-hydraulics aspects involving Generation IV (e.g., very high temperature, molten salt) and small modular reactors. Using experimental and simulation results, Gutowska detects critical areas and causes of thermal-hydraulic performance loss and develops applicable proposals for design improvements. She also performs computational fluid dynamics verification, validation, and uncertainty analyses.
Before joining Oregon State, Gutowska was an advanced computational fluid dynamics engineer at General Electric’s Engineering Design Center (2014-2016) and a research assistant at Warsaw University of Technology (2010-2013). She is a Warsaw University of Technology graduate (M.S, 2012) and alumni of Oregon State University (Ph. D, 2015).
