Dynamics of fuel vapor pressure buildup in voided lmfbr cores during the transient heating and its effect on the energy release in a core disruptive accident

Journal Article · Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · Nucl. Technol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5962371

Singh, O P; Rao, P B

The core disruptive accident (CDA) analysis of liquid-metal fast breeder reactors is often performed using the saturated vapor pressure equation of state for the fuel. However, during the transient heating of the fuel in a voided core in the disassembly phase of CDAs, the fuel vapor pressure buildup may lag behind the temperature rise and thus may lead to the delayed disassembly of the core and the consequent large energy release. The formulations for such transient vapor pressure buildup and the results on the dynamics of fuel vapor pressure during the transient heating and its influence on the thermal energy release in a CDA are presented. The energy release calculations have been performed by incorporating the present formalism in the disassembly analysis code VENUS-II. In view of the uncertainties in some of the physical parameters, a parametric study was conducted to evaluate the effects of such uncertainties in their values on the results. These results are discussed in detail.

• Research Organization: Reactor Research Centre Reactor Engineering and Design Group, Reactor Physics Section, Tamil Nadu
• OSTI ID: 5962371
• Journal Information: Nucl. Technol.; (United States), Vol. 71:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
COMPUTER CODES
V CODES
FUEL ELEMENTS
VAPOR PRESSURE
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR CORE DISRUPTION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DATA COVARIANCES
FUEL ASSEMBLY DISMANTLING
HEAT TRANSFER
HEATING
HYDRAULICS
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
PRESSURE EFFECTS
REACTOR CORES
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
ACCIDENTS
BREEDER REACTORS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FLUID MECHANICS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MECHANICS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
SIMULATION
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
210500 - Power Reactors
Breeding