Experiments to investigate the effect of flight path on direct containment heating
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
This paper reports that the limited flight path experiments investigate the effect of reactor subcompartment flight path length on direct containment heating (DCH) in a severe reactor accident. The test series consists of eight experiments with nominal flight paths of 1, 2, or 8 m. A thermitically generated mixture of iron, chromium, and alumina simulates the corium melt of a severe accident in a light water reactor. After thermite ignition, superheated steam forcibly ejects the molten debris into a 1:10 linear scale model of either the Surry or Zion reactor cavity. The blowdown steam entrains the molten debris and disperses it into a 103-m[sup 3] containment model. The vessel pressure, gas temperature, debris temperature, hydrogen produced by steam/metal reactions, debris velocity, mass dispersed into the Surtsey vessel, and debris particle size are measured for each experiment. The measured peak pressure for each experiment is normalized by the total amount of energy introduced into the Surtsey vessel and increases with lengthened flight path. These experiments indicate that the bulk of DCH interactions occur below the subcompartment structure, no in the upper dome of Surtsey. The effect of deentrainment by reactor subcompartments may significantly reduce the peak containment load in a severe reactor accident.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 7022983
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Technology; (United States), Journal Name: Nuclear Technology; (United States) Vol. 100:1; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN NUTYBB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
ACCIDENTS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHROMIUM
CONTAINMENT
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
HEATING
IRON
MELTDOWN
METALS
MIXTURES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
SIMULATION
SIZE
STEAM
SUPERHEATING
TEMPERATURE RANGE
TEMPERATURE RANGE 1000-4000 K
TESTING
TRANSITION ELEMENTS