Structural assessment of pressurizer V-102 of the circuit Orquídea

Abstract

The Water Experimental Circuit (CEA) was built in IPEN in eighties and had the aim to perform thermal hydraulic experiments, simulating operational condition of Pressurized Water Reactors and Boiling Water Reactors. The CEA operated until 1984 and since then it was decommissioned. In order to do hydrodynamics tests in MTR fuel type elements of nuclear research reactor, in the years 2015, was conceived an experimental circuit named Orquidea, which shall operate with low pressure and temperature. This paper assess the mechanical and structural suitability of the Pressurizer V-102, that was used in the former Water Experimental Circuit (CEA) aiming reuse this vessel in new the circuit. The methodology applied to evaluate the vessel was based on ASME code, Section VIII, Division 1 & 2.