Overview of the system alone and system/CFD coupled calculations of the PHENIX Natural Circulation Test within the THINS project

Abstract The PHENIX sodium cooled fast reactor started operation in 1973 and was shut down in 2009. Before decommissioning, an ultimate test program was designed and performed to provide valuable data for the development of future sodium cooled fast reactors, as the so-called Astrid prototype in France. Among these ultimate tests, a thermal-hydraulic Natural Convection Test (NCT) was set-up in June 2009. Starting from a reduced power state of 120 MWt, the NCT consists of a loss of the heat sink combined with a reactor scram and a primary pumps trip leading to stabilized natural circulation in the primary sodium system. The thermal-hydraulics innovative system project (THINS project), sponsored by the European Community in the frame of the 7th FP has selected this transient for validation of both stand-alone system code simulations and coupled simulations using system and CFD codes. Participants from three organizations (CEA, IRSN and KIT) have addressed this transient using different system codes (CATHARE, DYN2B and ATHLET) and CFD codes (TRIO_U and OPEN FOAM). The present paper depicts the different modeling approaches, methodologies and compares the numerical results with the available experimental data. Finally, the main lessons learned from the work performed within the THINS project on the PHENIX NCT with respect to code development and validation are summarized.