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Fragmentation of molten core material by sodium. [LMFBR]

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5337120
A series of scoping experiments was performed to study the fragmentation of prototypic high temperature melts in sodium. The quantity of melt involved was at least one order of magnitude larger than previous experiments. Two modes of contact were used: melt streaming into sodium and sodium into melt. The average bulk fragment size distribution was found to be in the range of previous data and the average size distribution was found to be insensitive to mode of contact. SEM studies showed that the metal component typically fragmented in the molten phase while the oxide component fragmented in the solid phase. For UO/sub 2/-ZrO/sub 2//stainless steel melts no sigificant spatial separation of the metal and oxide was observed. The fragment size distribution was stratified vertically in the debris bed in all cases. While the bulk fragment size showed generally consistent trends, the individual experiments were sufficiently different to cause different degrees of stratification in the debris bed. For the highly stratified beds the permeability can decrease by as much as a factor of 20 from the bottom to the top of the bed.
Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
5337120
Report Number(s):
SAND-82-0300C; CONF-820704-10; ON: DE82018809
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English