Fragmentation of UO/sub 2/ and UC drops entering a sodium pool. [LMFBR]
In this paper attention is focussed on whether coarse premixing of fuel and coolant is possible according to the jet penetration hypothesis, with applications to a hypothetical accident in a liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor. For UO/sub 2/ or UC fuel drops entering a sodium pool, the rapid bubble growth and collapse phenomenon, followed by crust breakup due to jet penetration, is analyzed as a function of the system pressure and coolant temperature. It appears that the UO/sub 2/-Na system fragments rapidly upon contact, for coolant temperatures above 300/sup 0/C, while the corresponding temperature for the carbide fuel is around 600/sup 0/C, at atmospheric pressures. For UO/sub 2/ but not for UC, there is a cut off pressure in the 0.1 to 3 MPa range, above which the crust does not break up for a particular coolant temperatures between 400 and 800/sup 0/C. Higher sodium temperatures aid the breakup for both fuels. One concludes that coarse premixing for UO/sub 2/, but not necessarily for UC, is difficult to attain.
- Research Organization:
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76ET37210
- OSTI ID:
- 7069940
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-780805-9; ON: DE84013201
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ACCIDENTS
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BREEDER REACTORS
CARBIDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
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FUEL-COOLANT INTERACTIONS
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METALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
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SODIUM
STRESSES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THERMAL STRESSES
URANIUM CARBIDES
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM DIOXIDE
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