THE BEHAVIOUR OF C25/30 CONCRETE USED FOR CERNAVODA NPP SPENT FUEL POOLS INFRASTRUCTURE UNDER THERMAL STRESS CONDITIONS IN WET ENVIRONMENT

Irina Paraschiv*, Paula Cârlan

Institute for Nuclear Research, Campului Street, No.1, Mioveni, Arges, Romania

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to analyze the concrete structure behavior from Cernavoda nuclear power plant (NPP) spent fuel pools (SFP), considering an event which involves loss of cooling in the cooling circuit. In case of an earthquake exceeding the design basis, it can appear the tightness loss of the resin and stainless steel liners from the concrete structure and so, the concrete may be directly exposed to the water from spent fuel pools. For this study, C25/30 concrete used for the pools infrastructure was utilized, according to the Task Book specifications. The samples were thermally treated in the conditions which may appear in the considered event: in dry air at 50°C, in water at 50°C and in boiling water at 100°C. After applying the thermal treatments, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and permeability determinations were performed and the obtained results were evaluated by comparing with an untreated sample used as reference sample, in order to investigate concrete’s behavior in the simulated conditions.

Keywords: spent fuel pools, C25/30 concrete, thermal stress.