Results of two-phase flow experiments with an integrated Ingress-of-Coolant Event (ICE) test facility for ITER safety

An integrated ICE (Ingress-of-Coolant Event) test facility was constructed in order to demonstrate the adequacy of the ITER (International Thermonucle ar Experimental Reactor) safety design approach and investigate two-phase f low behavior during an ICE event. The integrated ICE test facility correspo nds to approximately 1/1600 of the ITER components. In the experiments the fluid flow cofigurations inside the vacuum vessel at the ICE events were ob served visually and pressure transients were measured quantitatively. Two-p hase flow analyses were carried out with the TRAC code and the experimental results were validated numerically. From the present study it was clarifie d that the ITER pressure suppression system is very effective in reducing t he pressure rise in case of the ICE event and the water-vapor two-phase flo w characteristics in ITER can be predicted numerically with sufficient accu racy. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.