Low-pressure cutoff for melt dispersal from reactor cavities
Consider a potential core melt accident sequence during which the reactor pressure vessel fails while the primary system is still at high pressure. The molten core material, consisting of oxides and unreacted zirconium and stainless steel, is assumed driven from the reactor vessel under high primary system pressure into the region beneath the vessel (reactor cavity). Steam, which follows the melt discharge from the vessel, flows at high velocity through the reactor cavity region, finely fragments the molten core material into droplets, interacts thermally and chemically (thus producing hydrogen) with the melt, and carries some fraction of melt droplets into the containment subcompartments just above the cavity. Hydrogen produced in the reactor cavity and subcompartments will be transported to the dome where combustion with oxygen would occur if conditions permitted. The core debris, during its flight through the subcompartments and the containment dome, transfers some fraction of its thermal and chemical energy directly to the containment atmosphere. This phenomenon of direct energy exchange between the core melt and containment atmosphere, which leads to rapid containment pressurization, is termed direct containment heating (DCH). This paper describes the results of debris dispersal experiments that were performed to determine the maximum permissible primary system pressure at vessel failure (low-pressure cutoff for debris dispersal) that yields negligible dispersal of core melt from the Surry reactor cavity.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6057971
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-881011-
- Journal Information:
- Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 57; Conference: Joint meeting of the European Nuclear Society and the American Nuclear Society, Washington, DC, USA, 30 Oct - 4 Nov 1988
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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