NUCLEAR POWER - SYSTEM SIMULATIONS AND OPERATION Edited by Pavel V. Tsvetkov Nuclear Power - System Simulations and Operation Edited by Pavel V. Tsvetkov Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2011 InTech All chapters are Open Access articles distributed under the Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike Attribution 3.0 license, which permits to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work in any medium, so long as the original work is properly cited. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Petra Zobic Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer Jan Hyrat Image Copyright fuyu liu, 2010. Used under license from Shutterstock.com First published July, 2011 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Nuclear Power - System Simulations and Operation, Edited by Pavel V. Tsvetkov p. cm. ISBN 978-953-307-506-8 Contents Preface IX Chapter 1 Simulation and Simulators for Nuclear Power Generation 1 Janos Sebestyen Janosy Chapter 2 Safety Studies and General Simulations of Research Reactors Using Nuclear Codes 21 Antonella L. Costa, Patrícia A. L. Reis, Clarysson A. M. Silva, Claubia Pereira, Maria Auxiliadora F. Veloso, Bruno T. Guerra, Humberto V. Soares and Amir Z. Mesquita Chapter 3 Development of an Appendix K Version of RELAP5-3D and Associated Deterministic-Realistic Hybrid Methodology for LOCA Licensing Analysis 43 Thomas K. S. Liang Chapter 4 Analysis of Error Propagation Between Software Processes 69 Sizarta Sarshar Chapter 5 Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis in Support of Plant Operation 87 Francesc Reventós Chapter 6 A Literature Survey of Neutronics and Thermal-Hydraulics Codes for Investigating Reactor Core Parameters; Artificial Neural Networks as the VVER-1000 Core Predictor 103 Farshad Faghihi H. Khalafi and S. M. Mirvakili Chapter 7 Recent Trends in Mathematical Modeling and Simulation of Fission Product Transport From Fuel to Primary Coolant of PWRs 123 Nasir M. Mirza, Sikander M. Mirza and Muhammad J. Iqbal Chapter 8 Thermal-Hydraulic Simulation of Supercritical-Water-Cooled Reactors 139 Markku Hänninen and Joona Kurki VI Contents Chapter 9 Non-Linear Design Evaluation of Class 1-3 Nuclear Power Piping 153 Lingfu Zeng, Lennart G. Jansson and Lars Dahlström Chapter 10 The Text-Mining Approach Towards Risk Communication in Environmental Science 175 Akihide Kugo Preface At the onset of the 21 st century, we are searching for reliable and sustainable energy sources that have a potential to support growing economies developing at accelerated growth rates, technology advances improving quality of life and becoming available to larger and larger populations. We have to make sure that this continuous quest for prosperity does not backfire via catastrophic irreversible climate changes, and depleted or limited resources that may challenge very existence of future generations. We are at the point in our history when we have to make sure that our growth is sustainable. New energy sources and systems must be inherently safe and environmentally benign. The quest for robust sustainable energy supplies meeting the above constraints leads us to the nuclear power technology. Today’s nuclear reactors are safe and highly efficient energy systems that offer electricity and a multitude of co-generation energy products ranging from potable water to heat for industrial applications. Although it is not inherently sustainable as solar power, nuclear technology is sustainable by design. Advanced nuclear energy systems are capable to breed new fuel, take care of nuclear waste and operate in an inherently safe way with minimized environmental effects. Catastrophic earthquake and tsunami events in Japan resulted in the nuclear accident that forced us to rethink our approach to nuclear safety, requirements and facilitated growing interests in designs, which can withstand natural disasters and avoid catastrophic consequences. This book is one in a series of books on nuclear power published by InTech. It consists of ten chapters on system simulations and operational aspects: • Simulation and Simulators used for Nuclear Power Generation, • Safety Studies and General Simulations of Research Reactors Using Nuclear Codes, • Development of an Appendix K Version of RELAP5-3D and Associated Deterministic-Realistic Hybrid Methodology for LOCA Licensing Analysis, • Analysis of Error Rropagation Between Software Processes, • Thermal-hydraulic Analysis in Support of Plant Operation, • A Literature Survey of Neutronic and Thermal-Hydraulics Codes for Investigating Reactor Core Parameters; Artificial Neural Networks as the VVER- 1000 Core Predictor, X Preface • Recent Trends in Mathematical Modeling & Simulation of Fission Product Transport from Fuel to Primary Coolant of PWRs, • Thermal-hydraulic Simulations of Supercritical-water-cooled Reactors, • Non-linear Design Evaluation of Class 1-3 Nuclear Power Piping, • The Method of Text-mining Approach Towards Risk Communication in Environmental Science. Our book does not aim at a complete coverage or a broad range. Instead, the included chapters shine light at existing challenges, solutions and approaches. Authors hope to share ideas and findings so that new ideas and directions can potentially be developed focusing on operational characteristics of nuclear power plants. The consistent thread throughout all chapters is the “system-thinking” approach synthesizing provided information and ideas. The book targets everyone with interests in system simulations and nuclear power operational aspects as its potential readership groups - students, researchers and practitioners. The idea is to facilitate intellectual cross-fertilization between field experts and non-field experts taking advantage of methods and tools developed by both groups. The book will hopefully inspire future research and development efforts, innovation by stimulating ideas. We hope our readers will enjoy the book and will find it both interesting and useful. Pavel V. Tsvetkov Department of Nuclear Engineering Texas A&M University United States of America . NUCLEAR POWER - SYSTEM SIMULATIONS AND OPERATION Edited by Pavel V. Tsvetkov Nuclear Power - System Simulations and Operation Edited by Pavel. orders@intechweb.org Nuclear Power - System Simulations and Operation, Edited by Pavel V. Tsvetkov p. cm. ISBN 97 8-9 5 3-3 0 7-5 0 6-8 Contents Preface IX Chapter 1 Simulation and Simulators. present in designing, constructing or operating a nuclear power generating system (Janosy, 2007 November). Nuclear Power - System Simulations and Operation 2 The process of simulation can