Experiments of melt jet-breakup for agglomerated debris formation using a metallic melt

岩澤 譲; 杉山 智之; 阿部 豊*

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 386, p.111575_1 - 111575_17, 2022/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111575

In severe accidents in a light water reactor, the relocated molten core (so-called corium or melt) can form a debris bed. The debris bed coolability is a critical issue for prevention and mitigation of the molten core-concrete interactions. Agglomeration has a serious impact on assessment of debris bed coolability if agglomeration forms massive debris (so-called agglomerated debris) by merging of melt particles with others when the melt particles accumulate on a floor. This paper presents the results of melt jet-breakup experiments for agglomerated debris formation using a simulant metallic melt. The experiments injected a melt jet of a low-melting point metal through a circular nozzle into a test section filled with coolant water. The particles were generated due to the melt jet-breakup accumulated on to a catcher, which is a flat plate made of stainless steel, installed in the test section. A high-speed video camera imaged particle formation and accumulation on the catcher plate. Agglomerated debris was confirmed by morphological investigation of the recovered debris. The experimental results revealed the effects of the melt jet injection conditions (melt temperature, coolant temperature, and coolant depth) on the mass fraction of agglomerated debris. On the basis of the experimental results, we proposed a simple correlation to estimate the mass fraction. The simple correlation successfully reproduced the mass fraction of agglomerated debris obtained in the DEFOR-A test [Kudinov et al., Nucl. Eng. Des., 301 (2013), 284-295]. The experimental data base presented in this paper makes further contributions to the modeling and validation of mechanistic models or simulation tools for agglomerated debris formation.