PROCOR: Vessel bottom head
Tiret rouge

The PROCOR platform is designed to calculate the behaviour of corium pools and to statistically process accident sequences up to vessel failure.​​​

Schéma d’un REP en situation d’AG avec renoyage externe de la cuve - carré © IRESNE/CEA

It was created in response to EDF’s need to assess the efficiency of the in-vessel corium retention (IVR) strategy, in particular for the Hualong reactor (~1000 MWe), as well as Framatome’s requirements to assess the behaviour of corium in the reactor vessel.

Based on flow of molten core materials calculated using a scenario code (MAAP), the PROCOR-FDC application models the phenomenology of corium pools in the bottom of the reactor vessel, as well as their interactions with the debris and metal structures. The platform and the application were modified to take into account the new models developed (reduction of conservatisms) and to improve the ergonomics and interface between MAAP and PROCOR.

Since 2019, the PROCOR-FDC application is used on an industrial scale by EDF and Framatome for IVR calculations of the French-Chinese Huaolong reactors. The validation base for the PROCOR-FDC application currently includes 14 tests in agreement with the partners: 7 MASCA-MA tests and 1 MASCA-RCW test at the NITI in Russia; 4 LIVE tests (L1, L4, L5L and L9) at KIT in Germany; and 2 tests at the CEA (BALI 1-7 and 1-15).