The fluid-structure interaction seismic analysis of the BWR nuclear power plant spent fuel pool

In the nuclear power plant, the spent fuel pool (SFP) is an important nuclear security structure, it uses as temporary storage for spent fuel assemblies and removes the decaying heat with pool water from spent fuel assemblies. The issue of seismic safety concerning nuclear facilities has always been a primary concern for the country located in an earthquake-prone zone. When an earthquake strikes the spent fuel pool, it could lead water to sloshing behavior. It may produce additional forces on the pool and cause water overflow. It is therefore critical to investigate the sloshing phenomenon in a seismic assessment of the SFP. The objective of the paper is concerned with the problem of modeling the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis with a SFP under Beyond-Design-Basis Earthquake (BDBE). The study focuses on the sloshing phenomena with the finite element analysis (FEA) code LS-DYNA. To be concerned about the structural integrity of the spent fuel pool, this paper also applied ACI-349 and ASME code to evaluate the seismic performance of the structure and the safety margin. The results show that the Taiwan BWR Mark-I Nuclear Power Plant spent fuel pool can maintain its structural integrity under the beyond-design basis earthquakes.