Thermal-hydraulic measurements and TRACE system code analysis performed on the natural circulation cooled BME Training Reactor

This paper presents a validation exercise for a natural circulation cooled, light-water moderated and cooled pool-type reactor system. Measurements were performed in the 100 kW Training Reactor of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, which facility can be easily instrumented for neutronic and thermal -hydraulic experiments. During the performed transients, the reactor was cooled solely by natural circulation and the coolant temperature was measured by thermocouples in several axial and radial positions. The corresponding numerical simulations were carried out with the U.S. NRC system code TRACE. The 3D/1D calculation model was prepared with the SNAP graphical interface, then transient simulations were carried out for each performed experiment. The measurement and simulation results showed good agreement for the analyzed transients, which suggests that TRACE might be an appropriate simulation tool for small-size, natural circulation cooled pool-type reactor calculations.