Effect of radiolytic gas on nuclear excursions in aqueous solutions. Thesis. [AZPAD and MACKIN codes]
Although not intended to study the evolution of a solution nuclear criticality accident, the Kinetic Experiment on Water Boiler (KEWB) demonstrated the dependence of the nuclear excursion on parameters such as solution temperature and radiolytic gas. Similarly, the CRAC ('Consequences Radiologigues d'un Accident de Criticite') program results indicate the excursion was governed by parameters such as the solution addition rate, initial neutron population, solute concentration, and thermal and radiolytic gas feedback. The majority of the energy deposited in a fissile solution is by the fission fragments. Energy deposition causes an increase in temperature decreasing density and hence neutron leakage. A second feature is the decomposition of water molecules into H2 and O2 in the solution. Microbubbles are nucleated in the fissile solution by a localized thermal spike generated by a fission fragment. In a supersaturated solution the bubble will grow and produce negative feedback by increasing neutron leakage. Both an energy and a pressure model have been incorporated into a space-independent kinetic computer code, MACKIN, while the pressure model was also incorporated into a space-dependent code, AZPAD. The models have been successful in predicting the peak power, burst energy, and maximum system pressure for the first burst in both KEWB and CRAC experiments.
- Research Organization:
- Arizona Univ., Tucson (USA). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
- OSTI ID:
- 5060941
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CR-2517
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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COMPUTER CODES
A CODES
M CODES
CRITICALITY
ACCIDENTS
FUEL SOLUTIONS
BUBBLES
FEEDBACK
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PRESSURE GRADIENTS
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUELS
LIQUID FUELS
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
NUCLEAR FUELS
REACTOR MATERIALS
SOLUTIONS
220100* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Theory & Calculation