Droplet evaporation characteristics on high-temperature porous surfaces for cooling fuel debris

Yuki, Kohei*; Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Yuki, Kazuhisa*

Proceedings of 31st International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE31) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2024/11

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE31-135281

Fuel debris in the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station is cooled under immersion condition. However, in the event of an unexpected decrease in water level, coolant contacts high-temperature fuel debris having porous structure. In this event, although fuel debris needs to be cooled rapidly, thermal behavior at liquid-solid contact, such as capillary phenomenon, remains unclear. In this paper, as basic research, we evaluate droplet evaporation characteristics after contact with metal porous media with small pores less than 1 mm. In experiment, to obtain life time curve of a droplet, bronze or stainless steel porous media having 1, 40, or 100 m pore diameter are utilized. Experimental results show that Leidenfrost phenomenon is suppressed on the porous surfaces because generated vapor can be discharged from the pores. Further, for bronze porous media, capillary phenomenon is observed as the temperature of the porous media increase because of generation of oxide film having fine structure. On the other hand, due to low wettability of stainless steel porous media, capillary phenomenon does not occur, and the droplet was not sucked and spread into pore. This indicates that rapid cooling by the capillary phenomenon can not be expected if fuel debris has the same characteristics as the stainless steel porous media.

Utilization of gamma ray irradiation at the WASTEF Facility

Sano, Naruto; Yamashita, Naoki; Watanabe, Masaya; Tsukada, Manabu*; Hoshino, Kazutoyo*; Hirai, Koki; Ikegami, Yuta*; Tashiro, Shinsuke; Yoshida, Ryoichiro; Hatakeyama, Yuichi; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2023-029, 36 Pages, 2024/03

JAEA-Technology-2023-029.pdf:2.47MB

At the Waste Safety Testing Facility (WASTEF), the gamma ray irradiation device "Gamma Cell 220" was relocated from the 4th Research Building of the Nuclear Science Research Institute in FY2019, and the use of gamma ray irradiation has begun. Initially, Fuel Cycle Safety Research Group, Fuel Cycle Safety Research Division, Nuclear Safety Research Center, Sector of Nuclear Safety Research and Emergency Preparedness, the owner of this device, conducted the tests as the main user, but since 2022, other users, including those outside the organization, have started using it. The gamma ray irradiation device "Gamma Cell 220" is manufactured by Nordion International Inc. in Canada. Since it was purchased in 1989, the built-in Co radiation source has been updated once, and safety research related to nuclear fuel cycles, etc. It is still used for this purpose to this day. This report summarizes the equipment overview of the gamma ray irradiation device "Gamma Cell 220", its permits and licenses at WASTEF, usage status, maintenance and inspection, and future prospects.

Investigation on behavior of a vortical liquid film of a wall-impinging liquid jet in a shallow pool

Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Nihon Kikai Gakkai Kanto Shibu Dai-29-Ki Sokai, Koenkai Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 5 Pages, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1299/jsmekanto.2023.29.17H19

To elucidate the behavior of molten fuels as a liquid jet in a shallow pool, which is assumed in a core meltdown accident of an LWR, and develop the evaluation method, we investigated the behavior of the vortical liquid film of the simulated wall-impinging liquid jet using 3-dimensional interface shape data obtained by the experiment in a liquid-liquid system.

Atomization mechanisms of a wall-impinging jet in a shallow pool

Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Physics of Fluids, 35(7), p.073309_1 - 073309_17, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0157032

The atomization of a liquid jet in an immiscible liquid-liquid system is significant for the safety in the nuclear industry field. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed an evaluation method of a melt fuel behavior as a liquid jet in an immiscible liquid-liquid system for subsequence using mechanistic numerical simulation and has investigated liquid jet behavior in a shallow pool through numerical simulations and experiments. The paper clarifies the atomization mechanism in the wall-impinging liquid jet. Herein, the atomization behavior in the wall-impinging liquid jet in a shallow pool in an immiscible liquid-liquid system was studied in terms of droplet formation and flow field using numerical simulation and the dispersed-phase tracking method. The results show that the droplet formation in the liquid film flow of the wall-impinging liquid jet had the three patterns, and we obtained the droplet properties immediately after droplet formation and developed the theoretical criterion regions using the dimensionless numbers for droplet formation. We characterized the patterns by comparing them with the regions and elucidated the droplet formation mechanisms depending on their sources. Moreover, we elucidated that the relationship between droplet formation as the local behaviors of the jet and atomization as the whole behavior.

Experiment and numerical simulation of pulsation flow in single channel for Li-7 enrichment technology development by MCCCE method

Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Kitatsuji, Yoshihiro; Hasegawa, Makoto*; Kishimoto, Tadafumi*

Proceedings of 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE30) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2023/05

From the viewpoint of energy security in Japan and reduction of the environmental load, continuous operation of light water reactors is essential. Since a pH adjuster with enriched Li-7 ions is required for water quality control on PWR, the development of Li-7 enrichment technology is one of the key issues. The multi-channel counter-current electrophoresis (MCCCE) method has been developed as the technology with a low environmental load. To put this method into practical use, it is necessary to understand Li-7 ion behavior in the channel flow and optimize the experimental condition to separate Li-7 and its isotope. In this paper, to understand Li-7 ion behavior in a single channel of the experimental apparatus, a numerical simulation method based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code with a particle tracking method, TPFIT-LPT, was developed. In the method, the motion of multiple ions under the electric field was simulated as a particle with an added velocity by the electric field. The difference in the isotopes was represented by changing of the magnitude of the added velocity. We also considered that although it is impossible to measure the behavior of each ion, it is important to measure the flow velocity of the bulk fluid for the validation of the numerical simulation. We developed a lab-scale experimental apparatus in which the single channel of the actual apparatus was simplified to measure the flow velocity by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). We set a pulsation flow condition on the lab-scale experiment, which is one of difficult conditions for the numerical simulation, and measured the velocity. As the result, we confirmed that the pulsation flow was reproduced. We set the measured data as the inlet boundary condition of the numerical simulation and conducted it. As the numerical result, we confirmed the ions affected by the electric field moved upstream with pulsation. We also confirmed the effect of the electric field on the motion of the isotope.

Development of evaluation method for thermal behavior in and around fuel debris based on two-fluid model

Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Horiguchi, Naoki

Nihon Kikai Gakkai Kanto Shibu Dai-29-Ki Sokai, Koenkai Koen Rombunshu (Internet), 5 Pages, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.1299/jsmekanto.2023.29.17H23

To reduce contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and consider the fuel debris retrieval method, a numerical simulation method is required to evaluate the effects of water injection. Then, we are developing a multiphase CFD simulation method based on the three-dimensional two-fluid model to evaluate thermal-hydraulic behavior in the primary containment vessel. The numerical simulation method was developed by introducing the required functions into the ACE-3D. This paper presents an overview of the porous model introduced to the ACE-3D to evaluate thermal-hydraulic behavior in fuel debris. In addition, we performed the numerical simulation for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant unit 2 under the condition in which water injection stopped. And we compared the analysis results by the modified ACE-3D with more detailed three-dimensional CFD results by JUPITER.

Measurement of fragments of a wall-impinging liquid jet in a shallow pool

Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Proceedings of 12th Japan-Korea Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS12) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2022/10

For safety evaluation of nuclear reactors in severe accidents, it is important to estimate physical quantities of fragments generated from the molten fuel jet, which falls in a pool and breaks up. The evaluation method has been developed for the behavior as liquid jet with hydrodynamic interaction including fuel coolant interaction (FCI). In case of a shallow pool assumed in ex-vessel, the molten fuel jet is assumed to behave as wall-impinging liquid jet and to form liquid film flow spreading on the floor with/without fragmentation. In our research, focusing on hydrodynamic interaction and the transient 3-dimensional spreading on the floor, we have developed the evaluation method by numerical simulation using the two-phase flow simulation code with interface tracking method (TPFIT) developed by JAEA and, the experimental method using the 3D-LIF method in liquid-liquid system for the validation data. In our previous studies, we investigated the wall-impinging liquid jet behavior with fragmentation and observed that the liquid film flow had some characteristic parts transiently. Since it indicates that the quantities change depending on the parts and affect the safety evaluation, it is important to measure the quantities of the fragments generated from each part. This paper explains the measurement of the physical quantities of the fragments generated from each part of the wall-impinging liquid jet in a shallow pool for the validation of the numerical simulation. We conducted an experiment with the 3D-LIF method and segmented the experimental data based on the fragmentation point over the liquid film flow using the dispersed phase tracking method, developed by JAEA. Then, we measured the diameter and amount of the fragments from the segmented experimental data and investigated their changing trend.

Experimental study of liquid spreading and atomization due to jet impingement in liquid-liquid systems

Yamamura, Sota*; Fujiwara, Kota*; Honda, Kota*; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Horiguchi, Naoki; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Physics of Fluids, 34(8), p.082110_1 - 082110_13, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0100340

Liquid spreading and atomization due to jet impingement in liquid-liquid systems are considered to be crucial for understanding the cooling behavior of high-temperature molten material in a shallow water pool. This phenomenon takes place when a liquid jet enters a pool filled with other immiscible liquid. The jet spreads radially after impinging on the floor while forming a thin liquid film and atomizing droplets. In this paper, we explain the result to quantify the unsteady three-dimensional behavior of the spreading jet by the employment of 3D-LIF measurements and 3-dimensional reconstruction. Under high flow velocity conditions, the phenomena of hydraulic jump and atomization of the liquid film occurred along with the spreading. To evaluate the spreading behavior, a comparison of the jump radius position of the liquid-liquid system as the representative value was made with the one calculated by the existing theory of a gas-liquid system. As the result, the spreading of the liquid film in the liquid-liquid system was suppressed compared with that in the gas-liquid system. Furthermore, the PTV method was successfully used to measure the velocity boundary layer and velocity profile in the liquid film, which are important factors that affect the spreading mechanism of the liquid film. These results revealed that in liquid-liquid systems, shear stress at the liquid-liquid interface causes a decrease in the flow velocity and suppressed the development of the velocity boundary layer. Also, to evaluate the atomization behavior, the number and diameter distribution of the droplets were measured from the acquired 3-dimensional shape data of the jet. As the result, the number of droplets increased with the flow velocity. Based on these results, we concluded that the spreading of the liquid film is affected by such atomization behavior.

Development of dispersed phase tracking method for time-series 3-dimensional interface shape data

Horiguchi, Naoki; Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Yamamura, Sota*; Fujiwara, Kota*; Kaneko, Akiko*; Abe, Yutaka*

Proceedings of 19th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-19) (Internet), 14 Pages, 2022/03

Review of engagement activities to promote awareness of radiation and its associated risk amongst the Japanese public before and after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Sakoda, Akihiro; Nomura, Naoki*; Kuroda, Yujiro*; Kono, Takahiko; Naito, Wataru*; Yoshida, Hiroko*

Journal of Radiological Protection, 41(4), p.1258 - 1287, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/ac2678

Following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, many radiation experts directly experienced a vast gap between ideal and real public understanding (PU) of radiation in risk communication. Therefore, this study collated and reviewed information about PU activities for radiation and its risk that six Japanese academic societies - which seemed to be socially neutral expert communities - related to radiation and radiation risk conducted before and after the accident. Activities these radiation-related societies provided to general public were discussed from the following perspectives: (1) difficulties in two-way communication due to resources, motivation, public interest and concerns; (2) balance between academic research and PU activities; (3) academic societies' building trust with the public whilst ensuring member experts' neutrality and independence; (4) discussions among academic societies to prepare for public engagement. We hope that this paper encourages experts and academic societies in radiation protection to hold more national and international discussions about their roles in public communication and outreach.