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Title: Heat removal from a stratified UO/sub 2/ - sodium-particle bed

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5235576

The D6 Debris Bed Experiment is one in a series of Post Accident Heat Removal (PAHR) Experiments being conducted to investigate the coolability of debris beds which might exist as a result of a severe nuclear reactor accident. The D6 experiment is the first in the series to investigate the effects of particle size stratification, which would likely exist for many accident scenarios, on debris bed coolability. The D6 debris bed contained 4.87 kg of UO/sub 2/ particulate, which formed a bed 114 mm high and 102 mm in diameter. At low power, heat removal could be described by the conduction equation, with effective bed conductivity in agreement with the Kampf-Karsten relation to within ten percent. Single phase convection was not observed in the bed. The power required to achieve dryout ranged from 0.28 to 0.45 W/g for overlying bulk sodium temperatures which were from 315/sup 0/ to 485/sup 0/K below the saturation temperature. These powers are significantly below that which would be predicted by current models. Based on evaluation of the data, it appears that stratification suppresses convection, reduces the power required to achieve dryout, and suppresses the formation of vapor channels which would result in increased coolability.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
5235576
Report Number(s):
NUREG/CR-2412; SAND-81-1622; ON: DE82013896; TRN: 82-016013
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of document are illegible
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English