TRAN B-2: the effect of low steel content on fuel penetration in a non-melting cylindrical flow channel

Technical Report · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5918691

McArthur, D A; Mast, P K

The TRAN B-Series of experiments is being conducted at Sandia National Laboratories to investigate the characteristics of fuel removal and freezing through the upper axial blankets of an LMFBR during the transition phase of a hypothetical core disruptive accident. The second experiment in this series, TRAN B-2, was performed in July 1983. This experiment involved the injection of a mixture of 95% UO/sub 2/ and 5% stainless steel into a simple thick-walled steel cylindrical flow channel. The initial temperature of the steel channel was low such that melting of the walls upon contact with the hot melt was not expected. Previous experiments under similar conditions but using pure UO/sub 2/ melts had shown stable crust growth and fairly long penetration distances. This experiment was intended to investigate whether those results were also applicable for the case of UO/sub 2//steel mixtures. The results of the TRAN B-2 experiment, consisting of data from online instrumentation and post-irradiation examination, suggest that low steel content fuel/steel mixtures behave very similarly to pure UO/sub 2/ melts. The UO/sub 2/ in the mixture appears to be preferentially frozen out in the crust, such that the bulk melt material becomes richer in the stainless steel component. No evidence of bulk freezing or blockage formation was seen in the experiment.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA); Science Applications International Corp., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5918691
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-3757; SAND-84-0814; ON: TI85010436
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500 -- Power Reactors
Breeding
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
ACCIDENTS
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ALLOYS
BREEDER REACTORS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CORIUM
CORROSION RESISTANT ALLOYS
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FREEZING
FUEL CHANNELS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
MELTDOWN
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR CHANNELS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORE DISRUPTION
REACTORS
STAINLESS STEELS
STEELS
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM OXIDES