AMHYCO Project - Towards Advanced Accident Guidelines for Hydrogen Safety in Nuclear Power Plants

Severe accidents in nuclear power plants are potentially dangerous to both humans and the environment. To prevent and/or mitigate the consequences of these accidents, it is paramount to have adequate accident management measures in place. During a severe accident, combustible gases — especially hydrogen and carbon monoxide — can be released in significant amounts, leading to a potential explosion risk in the nuclear containment building. These gases need to be managed to avoid threatening the containment integrity, which can result in the releases of radioactive material into the environment. The main objective of the AMHYCO project is to propose innovative enhancements in the way combustible gases are managed in case of a severe accident in currently operating reactors. For this purpose, the AMHYCO project pursues three specific activities, including experimental investigations of relevant phenomena related to hydrogen / carbon monoxide combustion and mitigation with PARs (Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners), improvement of the predictive capabilities of analysis tools used for explosion hazard evaluation inside the reactor containment, as well as enhancement of the Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMGs) with respect to combustible gases risk management based on theoretical and experimental results. Officially launched on 1 October 2020, AMHYCO is an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project that will last 4 years from 2020 to 2024. This international project consists of 12 organizations (six from European countries and one from Canada) and is led by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). AMHYCO will benefit from the worldwide experts in combustion science, accident management and nuclear safety in its Advisory Board. The paper will give an overview of the work program and planned outcome of the project.