ARIES-RS loss of coolant accident (LOCA) analysis

Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) analysis has been performed for the ARIES-RS fusion power plant. LOCA occurs when one or more supply tubes outside the reactor are damaged or ruptured preventing the coolant from reaching the in-vessel components. For this analysis, it is assumed that the plasma is immediately quenched and the temperature of the chamber components begins to increase due to the generated afterheat. This work examines the thermal behavior of the in-vessel components to determine the maximum temperature reached and addresses various schemes of afterheat removal. The thermal behavior of the reactor following a LOCA is simulated using a transient 2-D finite element model. The toroidal field (TF) magnets are perfectly thermally insulated from the rest of the reactor components and are not used as a heat sink. The analysis shows that the outboard first wall will reach a maximum temperature of 1174°C for a vanadium first wall and will remain at a temperature higher than 1100°C for about 10 hours. This means that a passive afterheat removal system should be incorporated in the design to protect the ARIES-RS plant in-vessel components from being damaged in case of LOCA