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Experimental study of the molten glass/water thermal interaction under free and forced conditions

Journal Article · · Nucl. Sci. Eng.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6713870

Molten glass interacts explosively with water under certain contact mode conditions. The contact mode found explosive is as follows: Molten glass enters the water bath in the film boiling regime (as predicted by Dhir's correlation), and soon after entry the vapor film is perturbed sufficiently by an external pressure pulse. The ensuing reaction proceeds basically along the same lines as energetic tin/water interactions observed by several investigators. In the absence of this pressure pulse, the event is nonenergetic. The present findings are for a combination in which the hot material has a very low thermal diffusivity and the calculated interface temperature is significantly (approximately 180 K) below its melting temperature. This is similar to the characteristics of the UO/sub 2//sodium or UO/sub 2//water combinations. The observed explosive glass/water interactions show growth times on the order of a few milliseconds. The particulate size distribution from the present tests was coarser than the particulate size distribution from some in-pile and out-of-pile UO/sub 2//sodium interaction tests.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Los Angeles
OSTI ID:
6713870
Journal Information:
Nucl. Sci. Eng.; (United States), Journal Name: Nucl. Sci. Eng.; (United States) Vol. 66:2; ISSN NSENA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English