Numerical experimentation on convective coolant flow in Ghana Nuclear Research Reactor - I

Abstract

Numerical experiments on one dimensional convective coolant flow during steady state operation of the Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-I) were performed to determine the thermal hydraulic parameters of temperature, density and flow rate. The computational domain was the reactor vessel, including the reactor core. The maxi-mum coolant temperature attained during steady state operation was 68.3218 °C, while the density and velocity values were 0.9423 kg/cm3 and 1.0241 cm/s, respectively. The minimum values of the temperature, density and velocity were 40.2935 °C, 0.8495 kg/cm3 and 1.0108 cm/s, respectively. The experimental data indicated that the reactor is inherently safe during steady state or normal operations.