Experimental evaluations of seawater effects on thermal-hydraulic behavior at severe accident, 1; Outline of research plan

Liu, W.; Nagatake, Taku ; Takase, Kazuyuki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki  ; Nagase, Fumihisa 

Severe accidents occurred in the reactors and spent fuel pools of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant after the East Japan Earthquake and the large tsunami occurred on Mar.11, 2011. To cool down the reactors, seawater was injected into the cores. So far, core cooling with seawater has never been assumed and the effect of seawater on heat transfer in reactor core is not clear. To contribute to the understanding of the situations of the reactor cores, Japan Atomic Energy Agency has started the experimental research on the effect of seawater on thermal-hydraulic behaviors including heat transfer. Multiple experiments are to be performed in order to understand the phenomena of the thermal-hydraulic behaviors including the effect of salt precipitation, identify controlling factors, etc. This paper reports a summary of research plan and experimental apparatus to be manufactured.