PBF (Power Burst Facility) severe fuel damage test 1-1: Volume 1, Test results report

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:7037724

Martinson, Z R; Petti, D A; Cook, B A

A comprehensive evaluation of the Severe Fuel Damage (SFD) Test 1-1 performed in the Power Burst Facility (PBF) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory is presented. The test is part of an internationally sponsored light water reactor severe accident research program, initiated by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Test SFD 1-1 was the second of four nuclear severe fuel damage tests performed in the PBF. The overall technical objective of the test was to contribute to the understanding of fuel bundle dynamics, hydrogen generation and fission product behavior during a high temperature, severe damage transient. The SFD 1-1 fuel bundle comprised 32, 0.9-m long, trace-irradiated (79 MWd/t) fuel rods surrounded by an insulating shroud. The experiment consisted of a transient in which the inlet coolant flow to the test bundle was reduced to 0.64 g/s, while the nuclear power was gradually increased until dryout, heatup, and rapid oxidation occurred. With sustained power and the heat of oxidation, temperatures continued to rise rapidly, approaching fuel melting and resulting in zircaloy melting, fuel liquefaction, material relocation, and fission product release. The approx.1 h transient, conducted at a pressure of 6.8 MPa, was terminated over a 1200-s time span by reducing the reactor power and cooling the bundle with an argon sweep gas before reflooding the bundle. A description and evaluation of the major phenomena, based upon the response of on-line instrumentation, analysis of fission product data, postirradiation examination of the fuel bundle, and calculations using the Severe Core Damage Analysis Package (SCDAP) Code, are presented.

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 7037724
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-4684-Vol.1; EGG-2463-Vol.1; ON: TI87003028
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
220600* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360106 -- Metals & Alloys-- Radiation Effects
DAMAGE
ENERGY SOURCES
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL RODS
FUELS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
PBF REACTOR
PERFORMANCE
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
PULSED REACTORS
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
ROD BUNDLES
TANK TYPE REACTORS
TESTING
TRANSIENTS