PRODUCTION OF VOID AND PRESSURE BY FISSION TRACK NUCLEATION OF RADIOLYTIC GAS BUBBLES DURING POWER BURSTS IN A SOLUTION REACTOR

Technical Report · Sun Dec 30 04:00:00 EST 1962

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4763460· OSTI ID:4763460

Spiegler, P; Bumpus, Jr, C F; Norman, A

The Kinetic Experiment on Water Boiler (KEWB) reactor is a 50-kw aqueous homogeneous research reactor which was designed to study the safety characteristics and dynamic behavior of this class of reactors. When the reactor is placed on a short-period power transient, its aqueous uranyl sulfate fuel solution becomes rapidly supersaturated with H/sub 2/ gas produced by the radiolysis of water. At a critical gas concentration, fission track nucleation of H/sub 2/ bubbles occurs. The rapid formation and growth of these bubbles creates a pressure field, the so-called inential pressure, which causes an increase in solution volume. This increase in solution volume, referred to as void, causes a loss of reactivity and constitutes an important shutdown mechanism. The conditions under which fission track nucleation of gas bubbles occurs are described. It is shown that the void volume and void compensated reactivity can be calculated from a knowledge of the pressure field. Simple models for the pressure field are presented which satisfactorily describe the observed pressures. The inpile capsule and KEWB experiments which confirm the validity of the mechanisms for these processes are described. The equations and data presented make it possible to predict with accuracy the onset and magnitude of the inential pressure and the dynamic reactivity for a large class of aqueous homogeneous reactors. (auth)

• Research Organization: Atomics International. Div. of North American Aviation, Inc., Canoga Park, Calif.
• DOE Contract Number: AT(11-1)-GEN-8
• NSA Number: NSA-17-011952
• OSTI ID: 4763460
• Report Number(s): NAA-SR-7086
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BOILING
BUBBLES
CAPSULES
DECOMPOSITION
DENSITY
ENRICHMENT
EQUATIONS
EXCURSIONS
EXPANSION
FISSION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL SOLUTIONS
GASES
HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS
HYDROGEN
IN PILE LOOPS
IRRADIATION
KEWB
LOSSES
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURED VALUES
NEUTRON FLUX
NUCLEATE BOILING
NUMERICALS
PLANNING
POWER
POWER PLANTS
PRESSURE
PRODUCTION
RADIATION CHEMISTRY
RADIOLYSIS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR KINETICS
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SHUTDOWN
SOLUTIONS
SULFATES
TESTING
TRANSFER FUNCTIONS
TRANSIENTS
URANYL COMPOUNDS
VARIATIONS
VOID COEFFICIENT
VOLUME
WATER
WATER COOLANT
WATER MODERATOR
ZONES