PBF severe fuel damage scoping test. Test results report

Technical Report · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:5356892

Knipe, A D; Ploger, S A; Osetek, D J

This report presents a comprehensive evaluation of the Severe Fuel Damage Scoping test (SFD-ST) performed in the Power Burst facility (PBF) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The test is part of an internationally sponsored light water reactor severe accident research program, initiated by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The experiment was the first of four, in-pile, multifuel rod tests performed in the PBF. The SFD-ST fuel bundle comprised 32, 0.9-m long, trace-irradiated (91 MWd/T) fuel rods. The bundle was surrounded by an insulating shroud, with the region maintained at a pressure of 7 MPa. The experiment consisted of a transient in which the inlet coolant flow to the test bundle was reduced to 16 g/s, and the nuclear power increased, until the peak temperature approached fuel melting. The approx.3 h transient was terminated by scram of the reactor, with the inlet coolant reflooding and cooling the bundle to saturation temperature within 8 min. The overall technical objective of the test was to contribute to the understanding of fuel bundle dyanmics, and the related hydrogen and fission product behavior, during a high temperature transient. The report provides a description of the major observed phenomena. Interpretation of the test was based upon the response of on-line instruments, posttest fission product sample analysis, nondestructive and destructive postirradiation examination of the fuel bundle, and a calculational study using the Severe Core Damage Analysis Package (SCDAP).

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 5356892
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-4683; EGG-2413; ON: TI86015943
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
ACCIDENTS
DAMAGE
ENERGY SOURCES
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUELS
MATERIALS
MELTDOWN
NUCLEAR FUELS
OPERATION
PBF REACTOR
PULSED REACTORS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTOR OPERATION
REACTOR SAFETY EXPERIMENTS
REACTORS
ROD BUNDLES
TANK TYPE REACTORS