Thermal hydraulic analysis of ETRR-2 using RELAP5 code

The present work was developed within the frame of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project 1496 "Innovative methods in research reactor analysis: Benchmark against experimental data on neutronics and thermal-hydraulic computational methods and tools for operation and safety analysis of research reactors". Three benchmark experiments were designed and performed to study the performance of the Egyptian Research Reactor ETRR-2. The experiments included steady state measurements as well as loss of flow transient (LOFT) and loss of power transient (SCRAM) conditions. The Code RELAP5/Mod3.4 was used to simulate the components of the ETRR-2 systems for the thermal hydraulic analysis of the reactor. The dimensions and elevations of the primary cooling components are based on real conditions (3-D configuration). RELAP5 results provided benchmark data which verified the experimental measurements taken from instrumentations installed for this experiment at several positions in the core. The predicted values for the coolant and clad surface temperature at different locations in the core showed a remarkable agreement with the experimental values, for both the steady state and transient conditions.