Thermal-hydraulic impact of failure of highly irradiated fuel pins on LMR passive safety
The EBR-2 SHRT-45 loss-of-primary-flow-without scram test and SHRT 302 unprotected loss-of-heat-sink test have demonstrated that liquid metal reactors can be built with a high degree of passive safety. No fuel pins were observed to fail in these tests; but if the burnup of the fuel were pushed further, one would face the question of what could be the impact of pin failures and rapid release of plenum gas in such a transient. Also, there are questions about the impact of an unprotected rapid release of plenum gas following the failure of highly irradiated fuel during normal operation. One area of concern, and the one addressed in this document, is whether the release of gas from failed pins could interfere with the coolant flow enough to cause melting of the fuel, possibly leading to blockage of the coolant channels. To address this question, the coolant voiding model in the SASSYS-1 code was modified to account for voiding due to gas release from failed pins. This model was used to analyze both unprotected pin failures during normal operation and pin failures during a SHRT-45 type of unprotected loss-of-flow transient. 3 refs., 5 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 6604427
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-901101-17; ON: DE90013663; TRN: 91-010577
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: American Nuclear Society winter meeting, Washington, DC (USA), 11-15 Nov 1990
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Validation of detailed thermal hydraulic models used for LMR safety and for improvement of technical specifications
SAS4A/SASSYS-1 Validation with EBR-II Tests Performed During the SHRT Testing Program (Rev. 2)
Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
FUEL PINS
FAILURES
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
LOSS OF FLOW
EBR-2 REACTOR
FUEL CANS
GAS FLOW
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
IRRADIATION
REACTOR SAFETY
S CODES
VOIDS
ACCIDENTS
BREEDER REACTORS
COMPUTER CODES
COOLING SYSTEMS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
FUEL ELEMENTS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MECHANICS
POWER REACTORS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SAFETY
SODIUM COOLED REACTORS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
210500 - Power Reactors
Breeding