PRETTA:A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PWR PRESSURIZER’S TRANSIENT THERMODYNAMICS

A computer program PRETTA “Pressurizer Transient Thermodynamics Analysis” was developed for the prediction of pressurizer under transient conditions. It is based on the solution of the conservation laws of heat and mass applied to the three separate and non equilibrium thermodynamic regions. In the program all of the important thermal-hydraulics phenomena occurring in the pressurizer: stratification of the hot water and incoming cold water, bulk flashing and condensation, wall condensation, and interfacial heat and mass transfer have been considered. The bubble rising and rain-out models are developed to describe bulk flashing and condensation, respectively. To obtain the wall condensation rate, a one-dimensional heat conduction equation is solved by the pivoting method. The presented computer program will predict the pressure-time behavior of a PWR pressurizer during a variety of transients. The results obtained from the proposed mathematical model are in good agreement with available data on the CHASHMA nuclear power plant’s pressurizer performance.