Thermally stimulated liquid Na-CaCO reaction; A Physicogeometrical kinetic approach toward the safety assessment of Na-cooled fast reactors

Koga, Nobuyoshi*; Kikuchi, Shin  

In this study, we characterized the kinetic features of the thermally stimulated reaction of CaCO with the liquid Na as a model process of the liquid Na-structural concrete reaction that possibly occurs under a postulated severe accident in a Na-cooled fast reactor. Two sampling conditions characterized by the dispersion of CaCO powders in the liquid Na and the limited contact of liquid Na with the CaCO pellet surface were applied to investigate the kinetics and physicogeometrical mechanism of the liquid Na-CaCO reaction using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and morphological observations of the products. Under both sampling conditions, the exothermic liquid Na-CaCO reaction started at the initial contact area of the reactants and proceeded while liquid Na penetrated CaCO powder and pellet, exhibiting the apparent multistep reaction behaviors.