Status of the FARO/KROTOS melt-coolant interactions tests
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre Safety Technology Institute, Ispra (Austria)
Results of FARO test L-19 are reported. It involved 155 kg of 80 w% UO{sub 2}+20 w% ZrO{sub 2} at 3073 K quenched in 338-kg, 1-m-depth water at saturation at 5.0 MPa (i.e., 537 K). The test is compared with two former tests (L-06 and L-08) performed in similar conditions (1-m-depth water) but with reduced quantities of test (18 and 44 kg, respectively) and with test L-14, performed with a similar quantity of melt (125 kg) but in 2-m-depth water. No fundamental differences with the former tests have been observed. Particularly, the quenching rate per unit melt mass was of the same order (0.5 MW). On the contrary, the portion of melt which remained as a cake on the bottom was larger (50% against a maximum of 30% in the previous tests). The possible reasons for these discrepancies are discussed. Recalculations of test L-19 by using COMETA and TEXAS are also reported and commented. Results from a new set of KROTOS tests conducted with Al{sub 2}O{sub 2} to investigate further the differences already observed with corium melt are presented and discussed. In these tests the effect of men superheat, water subcooling and ambient pressure on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/water system behaviour have been tested. In contrast with corium experiments, the results demonstrated that spontaneous explosions occur in the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/water system over all the range of parameters tested in highly subcooled conditions. Some TEXAS results for the latest KROTOS Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} test, in which a violent steam explosion did occur, are presented and compared with experiment. During some KROTOS experiments there are large deformations of the bottom plate and hold-down bolts. Use is made of the 2-D axisymmetric code SEURBNUK-EURDYN to analyse these deformations of the test section and some results are presented.
- Research Organization:
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research; Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 269686
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CP--0149-Vol.2; CONF-9510156--Vol.2; ON: TI96007985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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