Stochastic simulation of fission product activity in primary coolant due to fuel rod failures in typical PWRs under power transients

During normal operation of PWRs, routine fuel rods failures result in release of radioactive fission products (RFPs) in the primary coolant of PWRs. In this work, a stochastic model has been developed for simulation of failure time sequences and release rates for the estimation of fission product activity in primary coolant of a typical PWR under power perturbations. In the first part, a stochastic approach is developed, based on generation of fuel failure event sequences by sampling the time dependent intensity functions. Then a three-stage model based deterministic methodology of the FPCART code has been extended to include failure sequences and random release rates in a computer code FPCART-ST, which uses state-of-the-art LEOPARD and ODMUG codes as its subroutines. The value of the 131I activity in primary coolant predicted by FPCART-ST code has been found in good agreement with the corresponding values measured at ANGRA-1 nuclear power plant. The predictions of FPCART-ST code with constant release option have also been found to have good agreement with corresponding experimental values for time dependent 135I, 135Xe and 89Kr concentrations in primary coolant measured during EDITHMOX-1 experiments.