Part 1 (WP1): First of all, a critical review of the available literature will be performed to form the basis for the project regarding (1) PAR efficiency under ex-vessel conditions, (2) existing PWR EOPs and SAMGs regarding containment risk management (3) H2/CO combustion and the available engineering correlations for combustion risk estimation, (4) equipment and instrumentation surveillance under SA conditions.
Part 2 (WP2): Then, in a second step, the intention is to identify accident sequences in which the combustible gases risk might jeopardise containment, to establish a set of cases for evaluating the combustion risk in different scenarios later on.
Part 3 (WP3): In parallel, experiments will be conducted in two areas: (i) to study the H2/H2O and H2/CO/H2O combustion under different conditions, considering the interaction with spray and FCVS operation; (ii) to study the operational behavior of PARs under conditions of the ex-vessel phase of a severe accident. Numerical simulation will be performed to help construct engineering correlations to be used in safety assessment tools (LP, 3D & CFD codes).
Part 4 (WP4): From the experimental work and with the help of numerical simulations, a new set of correlations to evaluate the risk of combustion will be derived, taking into account the needs of LP codes, 3D containment codes and CFD codes. With these correlations, the combustion risk will be evaluated for different scenarios: unmitigated, mitigated, with spray/fan coolers actuation and with FCVS actuation. The equipment and instrumentation surveillance will be also assessed. The PAR efficiency reduction under realistic severe accident scenarios, studied experimentally in Part 3, will be also considered for the simulation.
Part 5 (WP5): With the previous simulation work and considering the experimental results, modifications to the SAMGs will be proposed to include guidance to minimise the combustion risk in severe accident scenarios. Special effort will be focused on guidelines for spray, fan coolers and FCVS actuation.
(WP6): The goals, context and results of the project will be communicated and disseminated to audiences such as nuclear power plant owners, safety authorities, academia and research centres, international organisations, nuclear engineering companies and more. PhD students will also be supported in this workpackage through supporting PhD theses and mobility of students
(WP7 & 8): Two workpackages are dedicated to the smooth running of the project and ethics conformity to ensure that AMHYCO achieves its goals!