Transient hot-spot analysis of the high-flux isotope reactor
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville (United States)
- Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Consideration of fuel element failure and the possibility of failure propagation is part of the overall safety approach for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High-Flux Isoptope Reactor (FHIR). There is a need to establish a technical basis for understanding the initiators that lead to fuel melting, the phenomena of fuel melting, and its consequences in order to reevaluate core damage criteria and to ensure that the HFIR core is designed to avoid or mitigate such accidents to the greatest extent possible. In this work, a computer model for the transient analysis of the HFIR is developed and applied for the study of hot-spot behavior during rapid HFIR transients. An earlier model that was developed for the analysis of reactivity transients of U-Al-dispersion-fueled research reactors is used as the base model. It includes point reactor kinetics for neutronics, a nonhomogeneous, nonequilibrium representation of the two-phase thermal hydraulics, and one-dimensional, spatially averaged heat conduction through fuel plates. The flow and heat transfer regimes considered are single-phase liquid flow, subcooled boiling, bulk boiling, film boiling, and single-phase vapor flow.
- OSTI ID:
- 6981719
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921102-; CODEN: TANSAO
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 66; Conference: Joint American Nuclear Society (ANS)/European Nuclear Society (ENS) international meeting on fifty years of controlled nuclear chain reaction: past, present, and future, Chicago, IL (United States), 15-20 Nov 1992; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Investigation of Natural Circulation Instability and Transients in Passively Safe Small Modular Reactors
A computer model for the transient analysis of compact research reactors with plate type fuel
Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
FUEL ELEMENTS
HOT SPOTS
HFIR REACTOR
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
REACTOR CORE DISRUPTION
REACTOR KINETICS
REACTOR SAFETY
THERMAL ANALYSIS
TRANSIENTS
TWO-PHASE FLOW
ACCIDENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
IRRADIATION REACTORS
ISOTOPE PRODUCTION REACTORS
KINETICS
MECHANICS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SAFETY
TANK TYPE REACTORS
TEST REACTORS
THERMAL REACTORS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
220600 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors