A Simple correlation to estimate agglomerated debris formation based on experiments of melt jet-breakup using a metallic melt

Iwasawa, Yuzuru  ; Sugiyama, Tomoyuki ; Kaneko, Akiko*

The agglomeration can form the massive debris (so-called agglomerated debris) by merging of melt particles with others when the particles accumulate on the floor of a containment vessel after relocation of the molten core (so-called corium or melt) in severe accidents in a light water reactor. This paper presents a modification of the simple correlation to estimate the mass fraction of the agglomerated debris proposed by the previous study [Iwasawa et al., Nucl. Eng. Des., 386 (2022), 111575] based on the experiments of melt jet-breakup using a metallic melt. The methodology is required to estimate the mass fraction of the agglomerated debris in the reactor conditions because the agglomerated debris can have a serious impact on the debris bed coolability. The present study focused the effects of the melt jet injection conditions (nozzle diameter and inlet velocity) on the mass fraction of agglomerated debris to add the experimental data base for the previous study that focused only the effects of the melt temperature, coolant temperature, and coolant depth on the mass fraction of the agglomerated debris. The visualized observation using a high-speed camera and morphological investigation of the recovered debris revealed the effects of the nozzle diameter and inlet velocity on the mass fraction of agglomerated debris. The extrapolation of the modified simple correlation showed the mass fraction of the agglomerated debris in the anticipated reactor conditions.