Thesis (M.S., Mechanical Engineering)--University of Idaho, June 2015 | The purpose of this thesis is to provide an additional tool to researchers and system analysts for use in simulation, testing, and development of the secondary loop of a PWR nuclear power plant. This new tool is a coupling of LabVIEW and RELAP5 that has been created by using each code to model half of a PWR. By taking advantage of the strengths of both programs, a more powerful, adaptable, and user friendly system model is developed that links directly to the instrumentation of the system. This work includes the development of the LabVIEW secondary loop model, the coupling methods for linking the two software packages, and a comparison of the secondary loop outputs to typical RELAP5 outputs as well as a third party source.
