{"title":"Study of the effect of seawater properties on the performance of molten fuel fragmentation","authors":"Yinmeng Zhang , Shaojie Tan , Yangkai Huang , Songbai Cheng , Hui Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.pnucene.2024.105483","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, in order to explore the effects of seawater properties on the fragmentation behavior of melt jets during a severe core meltdown accident in the light water reactor, visualized fragmentation experiments are carried out by releasing superheated melt into subcooled water at different coolant salinities, melt temperatures, water temperatures, and melt penetration velocities using the VTMCI (Visualized Thermo-hydraulic characteristics in Melt Coolant Interaction) facility at Sun Yat-Sen University. It is found that under the current experimental conditions, as the coolant salinity increases, the size of the debris decreases, while the variation of debris sphericity and debris bed porosity is insignificant. When the water temperature or melt temperature increases, the sphericity of the debris is higher, and the porosity of the debris bed and the size of the debris decrease. When the penetration rate of the melt is higher, smaller particles can be generated, but it has no significant impact on the debris bed porosity and debris sphericity. The Weber number theory can be used to predict the median diameter of debris, while the Stephan number (<em>St</em>) can be used to predict the trends in debris bed porosity and debris sphericity. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the actual fragmentation process mechanism of molten materials in severe accidents of light water reactors. The experimental data obtained will also contribute to the development, validation, and improvement of relevant physical models in China's pressurized water reactor severe accident analysis codes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20617,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Nuclear Energy","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 105483"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Progress in Nuclear Energy","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149197024004335","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In this study, in order to explore the effects of seawater properties on the fragmentation behavior of melt jets during a severe core meltdown accident in the light water reactor, visualized fragmentation experiments are carried out by releasing superheated melt into subcooled water at different coolant salinities, melt temperatures, water temperatures, and melt penetration velocities using the VTMCI (Visualized Thermo-hydraulic characteristics in Melt Coolant Interaction) facility at Sun Yat-Sen University. It is found that under the current experimental conditions, as the coolant salinity increases, the size of the debris decreases, while the variation of debris sphericity and debris bed porosity is insignificant. When the water temperature or melt temperature increases, the sphericity of the debris is higher, and the porosity of the debris bed and the size of the debris decrease. When the penetration rate of the melt is higher, smaller particles can be generated, but it has no significant impact on the debris bed porosity and debris sphericity. The Weber number theory can be used to predict the median diameter of debris, while the Stephan number (St) can be used to predict the trends in debris bed porosity and debris sphericity. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the actual fragmentation process mechanism of molten materials in severe accidents of light water reactors. The experimental data obtained will also contribute to the development, validation, and improvement of relevant physical models in China's pressurized water reactor severe accident analysis codes.
期刊介绍:
Progress in Nuclear Energy is an international review journal covering all aspects of nuclear science and engineering. In keeping with the maturity of nuclear power, articles on safety, siting and environmental problems are encouraged, as are those associated with economics and fuel management. However, basic physics and engineering will remain an important aspect of the editorial policy. Articles published are either of a review nature or present new material in more depth. They are aimed at researchers and technically-oriented managers working in the nuclear energy field.
Please note the following:
1) PNE seeks high quality research papers which are medium to long in length. Short research papers should be submitted to the journal Annals in Nuclear Energy.
2) PNE reserves the right to reject papers which are based solely on routine application of computer codes used to produce reactor designs or explain existing reactor phenomena. Such papers, although worthy, are best left as laboratory reports whereas Progress in Nuclear Energy seeks papers of originality, which are archival in nature, in the fields of mathematical and experimental nuclear technology, including fission, fusion (blanket physics, radiation damage), safety, materials aspects, economics, etc.
3) Review papers, which may occasionally be invited, are particularly sought by the journal in these fields.