Fast Reactor Meltdown Accidents Using Bethe-Tait Analysis
- General Electric Co., Sunnyvale, CA (United States)
The fast reactors which have been built in the United States to date have been designed to accommodate a maximum hypothetical accident (MHA) which predicates gross melting and consequential compaction of the core into a smaller volume that produces a large and rapid increase in reactivity. As a result of the reactivity introduced by the core compaction, the reactor is put on a prompt critical period which is finally terminated by explosive disassembly of the core. The forces effecting the disassembly are high pressures produced in the fuel by the power burst. The analytical approach used in the evaluation of this type of fast reactor accident was originally developed by Bethe and Tait; the many improvements and modifications that have since been made in this basic method for analyzing maximum hypothetical accidents in fast reactors are often classified as "modified Bethe-Tait" methods as long as explosive disassembly of the core is a significant reactivity factor for termination of the accident. The modified Bethe-Tait approach is preferred over the more rigorous methods that have been developed for analyzing this accident (such as AX-1) because of its simplicity and the relative ease, compared to a similar extension of the more rigorous codes, with which it can be extended to two dimensions.
- Research Organization:
- General Electric Co., Sunnyvale, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP); US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
- NSA Number:
- NSA-22-001761
- OSTI ID:
- 4519613
- Report Number(s):
- GEAP-4809
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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