Validation of SIMULATE-3K for stability analysis of Laguna Verde nuclear plant

Boiling Water Reactors are two phase flow systems which are susceptible to different types of flow instabilities. Among these are the coupled neutronic/thermal-hydraulic instabilities, these may compromise established fuel safety limits. These instabilities are characterized by periodic core-power and hydraulic oscillations. SIMULATE-3K code has been tested for stability analysis for several benchmarks, however to qualify the SIMULATE-3K code for a particular power plant a specific reactor plant analysis must be done. In this paper, the plant model of Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant is built and SIMULATE-3K is tested against the 1995 coupled neutronic/thermal-hydraulic instability event of Laguna Verde. Results obtained show the adequacy of this code to specific Laguna Verde power plant stability analysis.