Results from the NRC AP600 testing program at the Oregon State University APEX facility

The Department of Nuclear Engineering at Oregon State University (OSU) is performing a series of confirmatory tests for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These tests are being conducted in the Advanced Plant Experiment (APEX) facility which is a 1/4 length scale and 1/192 volume scale integral system simulation of the Westinghouse Advanced Passive 600 MWe (AP600) plant. The purpose of the testing program is to examine AP600 passive safety system performance, particularly during long term cooling. Thus far, OSU has successfully performed ten integral system tests for the NRC. This paper presents a description of the APEX facility and summarizes the important results of the NRC test program at OSU.