Experiments to investigate the effect of flight path on direct containment heating
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
This paper reports that the limited flight path experiments investigate the effect of reactor subcompartment flight path length on direct containment heating (DCH) in a severe reactor accident. The test series consists of eight experiments with nominal flight paths of 1, 2, or 8 m. A thermitically generated mixture of iron, chromium, and alumina simulates the corium melt of a severe accident in a light water reactor. After thermite ignition, superheated steam forcibly ejects the molten debris into a 1:10 linear scale model of either the Surry or Zion reactor cavity. The blowdown steam entrains the molten debris and disperses it into a 103-m[sup 3] containment model. The vessel pressure, gas temperature, debris temperature, hydrogen produced by steam/metal reactions, debris velocity, mass dispersed into the Surtsey vessel, and debris particle size are measured for each experiment. The measured peak pressure for each experiment is normalized by the total amount of energy introduced into the Surtsey vessel and increases with lengthened flight path. These experiments indicate that the bulk of DCH interactions occur below the subcompartment structure, no in the upper dome of Surtsey. The effect of deentrainment by reactor subcompartments may significantly reduce the peak containment load in a severe reactor accident.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 7022983
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Technology; (United States), Vol. 100:1; ISSN 0029-5450
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Experiments to investigate the effects of 1:10 scale Zion structures on direct containment heating (DCH) in the Surtsey Test Facility: The IET-1 and IET-1R tests
Experiments to investigate the effects of 1:10 scale Zion structures on direct containment heating (DCH) in the Surtsey Test Facility: The IET-1 and IET-1R tests
Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
CONTAINMENT
HEATING
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
CHROMIUM
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
IRON
MELTDOWN
MIXTURES
PARTICLE SIZE
REACTOR CORES
SIMULATION
STEAM
SUPERHEATING
TEMPERATURE RANGE 1000-4000 K
TESTING
ACCIDENTS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
METALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
SIZE
TEMPERATURE RANGE
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
210200 - Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled