Theoretical structural loads resulting from explosive fuel/coolant interactions

Conference · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:6372645

Beck, D F; Berman, M ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Lab., Albuquerque, NM (USA)

Fuel/coolant interactions (FCIs) have long been an issue for many industrial concerns that deal with pairs of fluids at widely separated temperatures. These industries include metal-casting operations, granulation facilities, the pulp and paper processors, and nuclear power plants. Even after centuries of experience in handling molten materials and decades of recent research, fatalities continue to accrue and millions of dollars are present in annual facility repairs. Sandia National Laboratories are also investigating numerous ways that the threats from FCIs (as well as other severe accidents) can be accommodated in the design of the new production reactor (or an advanced light water reactor) with little impact on operations or cost. To do so, however, requires quantitative prediction of such things as structural loads that would result from an explosive FCI. The thrust of this paper is to present the results of recent calculations carried out to describe the energetics and pressure source terms for a detonating FCI. Melt materials considered in this work were various combinations of aluminum, uranium, and lithium. Water initially at 298 K and 0.1 MPa was used in all of the calculations as the coolant. Initial melt temperature was varied over a wide range and was found to be an important parameter.

• OSTI ID: 6372645
• Report Number(s): CONF-900608-; CODEN: TANSA; TRN: 91-008272
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA), Vol. 61; Conference: American Nuclear Society (ANS) annual meeting, Nashville, TN (USA), 10-14 Jun 1990; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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