Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling Aerosol Removal in a Strongly Condensing Environment

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A small modular reactor (SMR) has been identified as an attractive source of low-carbon clean energy that can help to meet Canada's climate change goals. Canada can become a leader in the development and deployment of SMRs because of its well-developed nuclear science and technology sector. The safe design of SMRs relies on an innovative passive cooling system for postulated accident scenarios. The design of this new cooling system is different from previous reactors because of the smaller scale and design of the SMR compared to CANDU reactors. There is an inadequate understanding, however, of the accident-scenario operation of the passive cooling system with respect to strong condensation and aerosol deposition. Strong condensation and the transport of aerosol particles by changes in the temperature and air concentration are expected to be more important in the SMR than in previous reactor designs. Incorrect treatment of those phenomena in a safety analysis could lead to designs that don't retain fission products as needed in an accident scenario.To address the need for a tool to model those phenomena in a safety analysis, this project will use commercial software to develop and test a computational fluid dynamics model of the fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and aerosol transport in a containment-type chamber. The model will be a three-dimensional flow computation of steam and air with aerosol particles including condensation on a vertical wall. The model results will be compared with experiments being conducted this year at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) in Chalk River, Ontario.The new model will provide an important new software tool for SMR safety analysis and will enable CNL to support the development of SMRs. Success for Canada in this high-tech area will lead to jobs and intellectual property as well as being able to deliver on climate change commitments.