Computational and experimental examination of simulated core damage and relocation dynamics of a BWR fuel assembly

Hanus, G.*; Sato, Ikken ; Iwama, Tatsuya*

JAEA plans a large-scale test to evaluate damage and relocation behavior of BWR core materials consisting of fuel rods, channel boxes, control blade and lower support structures. Its purpose is to contribute to understanding of core material relocation behavior in the event of severe accidents with the BWR design conditions for which existing experimental database is quite limited. Prior to large-scale testing, JAEA desires preliminary investigations to examine melting test pieces. The purpose of such tests is to verify the materials and test piece will be heated by plasma to the target temperature (ca.2900K) and to collect data about the material relocation behavior. Results from preliminary computational simulations are presented illustrating the effectiveness of a 150 kW non-transferred plasma jet. An experimental test program using the computational analyses as a basis and a plasma torch is described.