Termination of light-water reactor core-melt accidents with a chemical core catcher: the core-melt source reduction system (COMSORS)

Technical Report · Sun Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/453914· OSTI ID:453914

Forsberg, C W; Parker, G W; Rudolph, J C; Osborne-Lee, I W ^[1]; Kenton, M A ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. Dames and Moore, Westmont, IL (United States)

The Core-Melt Source Reduction System (COMSORS) is a new approach to terminate light-water reactor core melt accidents and ensure containment integrity. A special dissolution glass is placed under the reactor vessel. If core debris is released onto the glass, the glass melts and the debris dissolves into the molten glass, thus creating a homogeneous molten glass. The molten glass, with dissolved core debris, spreads into a wide pool, distributing the heat for removal by radiation to the reactor cavity above or by transfer to water on top of the molten glass. Expected equilibrium glass temperatures are approximately 600 degrees C. The creation of a low-temperature, homogeneous molten glass with known geometry permits cooling of the glass without threatening containment integrity. This report describes the technology, initial experiments to measure key glass properties, and modeling of COMSORS operations.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464
• OSTI ID: 453914
• Report Number(s): ORNL--6899; ON: DE97050347
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
AFTER-HEAT REMOVAL
BORON OXIDES
BWR TYPE REACTORS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
COMPUTER CODES
CORIUM
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
FLUID FLOW
GLASS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
LEAD OXIDES
MELTDOWN
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR SAFETY
RHR SYSTEMS
VITRIFICATION