Source term analysis considering BC/steel interaction and oxidation during severe accidents

Ishikawa, Jun ; Shiotsu, Hiroyuki  ; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki ; Maruyama, Yu 

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is pursuing the development and application of the methodologies on fission product (FP) chemistry for source term analysis by using the integrated severe accident analysis code THALES2. In the present study, models for the eutectic interaction of boron carbide (BC) with steel and the BC oxidation were incorporated into THALES2 code and applied to the source term analyses for a boiling water reactor (BWR) with Mark-I containment vessel (CV). Two severe accident sequences with drywell (D/W) failure by overpressure initiated by loss of core coolant injection (TQUV sequence) and long-term station blackout (TB sequence) were selected as representative sequences. The analyses indicated that a much larger amount of species from the BC oxidation was produced in TB sequence than TQUV sequence. More than a half of carbon dioxide (CO) produced by the BC oxidation was predicted to dissolve into the water pool of the suppression chamber (S/C), which could largely influence pH of the water pool and consequent formation and release of volatile iodine species.