The Viability of Extraordinary Methods to Mitigate Compromised Spent Fuel Pool Cooling

Matthew T Davis, Michael D Proctor

Abstract


Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) cooling and water replenishment is a concern during some Nuclear Power Plant emergencies.  In the presence of intermittent or failed temperature monitoring as occurred at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), Hugo et al. [1, 2] recently proposed a novel approach to estimating temperatures of bodies of water experiencing evaporative cooling under forced airflow over their surface.  Estimation of SFP water evaporation aids emergency management and response planning in the presence of disaster-related, failed SFP monitoring systems.  Extending observations from Fukushima NPP, we detail some worst-case SFP water loss scenarios below.  Further, we compare these worst-case water loss rates to the published water throughput volumes of several alternative water replenishment response methods useful in these hypothetical disaster, response, and mitigation scenarios.  Follow-on future modeling and simulation research is proposed.

Keywords


Evaporation; Fukushima Daiichi Accident; Spent Fuel Pool; Emergency Management; Emergency Response Planning

References


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