About

Context

Severe accidents in nuclear power plants are costly (IRSN estimated the total cost of a Fukushima-scale accident in France to reach nearly €166 billion) and are potentially dangerous to both humans and the environment.

To prevent and/or reduce the impact of these accidents, nuclear power plants must have adequate accident management measures in place.

During a severe accident, combustible gases can be released, leading to a potential explosion risk in the nuclear containment building. These gases — including hydrogen and carbon monoxide — need to be managed to avoid threatening the containment integrity, which can result in the release of radioactive material into the environment.

The AMHYCO project is here to help

The AMHYCO idea came from discussions held in another project: SAMHYCONET when some partners identified that there were some areas of safety that could be further investigated. The AMHYCO research teams will conduct experiments and simulations in order to best replicate realistic conditions of severe accidents (SAs) in order to respond to practical questions, such as the right timing and mode for actuation of containment safety systems (i.e., FCVS, sprays, fan coolers) regarding combustion risk management. Cutting-edge tools (i.e., LP, 3D and CFD codes), experimentation and the best use of engineering judgement will be combined to produce recommendations that accurately reflect those realistic SA scenarios.

The AMHYCO project idea and program have been supported by the NUGENIA Executive Committee, receiving the NUGENIA label, awarded to projects that show a high level of quality in their research proposal.

AMHYCO has three main project objectives:

To experimentally investigate phenomena that are difficult to predict theoretically: H₂/CO combustion and PARs (Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners) behaviour under realistic accidental conditions, taking into account their interaction with safety systems.

To improve the predictability of analysis tools – Lumped Parameter (LP), 3D and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) codes – used for explosion hazard evaluation inside the reactor containment and providing support to Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMGs) design and development.

To improve the Severe Accident Management Guidelines for both in vessel and ex-vessel phases with respect to combustible gases risk management, using theoretical, simulation and experimental results.

AMHYCO Impacts

AMHYCO Impacts

01 – IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF H₂/CO COMBUSTION THROUGH A DATABASE OF EXPERIMENTS

02 – STRENGTHEN THE QUALITY OF FUTURE EVALUATION AND DESIGN OF COMBUSTION MITIGATION SYSTEMS

03 – ENHANCE THE COMBUSTION RISK MANAGEMENT IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

04- Contribute to Long Term Operation Upgrades of Gen II and III reactors

AMHYCO Impacts

AMHYCO Impacts

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