Collection of strength characteristic data used for analysis evaluation in reactor pressure vessel and in-core structures in accident

Shimomura, Kenta; Yamashita, Takuya; Nagae, Yuji

JAEA-Data/Code 2022-012, 270 Pages, 2023/03

JAEA-Data-Code-2022-012.pdf:38.25MB

In a light water reactor, which is a commercial nuclear power plant, a severe accident such as loss of cooling function in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and exposure of fuel rods due to a drop in the water level in the reactor can occur when a trouble like loss of all AC power occurs. In the event of such a severe accident, the RPV may be damaged due to in-vessel conditions (temperature, molten materials, etc.) and leakage of radioactive materials from the reactor may occur. Verification and estimation of the process of RPV damage, molten fuel debris spillage and expansion, etc. during accident progression will provide important information for decommissioning work. Possible causes of RPV failure include failure due to loads and restraints applied to the RPV substructure (mechanical failure), failure due to the current eutectic state of low-melting metals and high-melting oxides with the RPV bottom members (failure due to inter-material reactions), and failure near the melting point of the structural members at the RPV bottom. Among the failure factors, mechanical failure is verified by numerical analysis (thermal hydraulics and structural analysis). When conducting such a numerical analysis, the heat transfer properties (thermal conductivity, specific heat, density) and material properties (thermal conductivity, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, tensile, creep) of the materials (zirconium, boron carbide, stainless steel, nickel-based alloy, low alloy steel, etc.) constituting the RPV and in-core structures to near the melting point are required to evaluate the creep failure of the RPV. In this document, we compiled data on the properties of base materials up to the melting point of each material constituting the RPV and in-core structures, based on published literature. In addition, because welds exist in the RPV and in-core structures, the data on welds are also included in this report, although they are limited.

The Effects of steam addition on the unstable behavior of hydrogen-air lean premixed flames under the adiabatic and non-adiabatic conditions

Furuyama, Taisei*; Thwe Thwe, A.; Katsumi, Toshiyuki; Kobayashi, Hideaki*; Kadowaki, Satoshi

Nihon Kikai Gakkai Rombunshu (Internet), 87(898), p.21-00107_1 - 21-00107_12, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1299/transjsme.21-00107

The effects of steam addition on the unstable behavior of hydrogen-air lean premixed flames under adiabatic and non-adiabatic conditions were investigated by numerical calculations. Adopting a detailed chemical reaction mechanism of hydrogen-oxyfuel combustion modeled by 17 reversible reactions of 8 active species and diluents, a two-dimensional unsteady reaction flow was treated based on the compressible Navier-Stokes equation. As the steam addition and heat loss increased, the burning velocity of a planar flame decreased and the normalized burning velocity increased. The addition of water vapor promotes the unstable behavior of the hydrogen-air lean premixed flame. This is because the thermal diffusivity of the gas decreases and the diffusion-thermal instability increases. The effect of adding water vapor on the instability of hydrogen premixed flames is a new finding, and it is expected to connect with hydrogen explosion-prevention measures as in NPP.

Development of experimental technology for simulated fuel-assembly heating to address core-material-relocation behavior during severe accident

Abe, Yuta; Yamashita, Takuya; Sato, Ikken; Nakagiri, Toshio; Ishimi, Akihiro

Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 6(2), p.021113_1 - 021113_9, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4045450

Numerical investigation on unstable behaviors of cellular premixed flames at low Lewis numbers based on the diffusive-thermal model and compressible Navier-Stokes equations

Thwe Thwe, A.; Kadowaki, Satoshi; Hino, Ryutaro

Journal of Thermal Science and Technology (Internet), 13(2), p.18-00457_1 - 18-00457_12, 2018/12

https://doi.org/10.1299/jtst.2018jtst0034

Two dimensional unsteady calculations of reactive flows were performed in large domain to investigate the unstable behaviors of cellular premixed flames at low Lewis numbers based on the diffusive-thermal (D-T) model and compressible Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations. The growth rates obtained by the compressible N-S equations were large and the unstable ranges were wide compared with those obtained by the D-T model equations. When the length of computational domain increased, the number of small cells separated from large cells of the cellular flame increased drastically. The stronger unstable behaviors and the larger average burning velocities were observed especially in the numerical results based on the compressible N-S equations. In addition, the fractal dimension obtained by the compressible N-S equations was larger than that by the D-T model equations. Moreover, we confirmed that the radiative heat loss promoted the instability of premixed flames at low Lewis numbers.

Development of experimental technology for simulated fuel-assembly heating to address core-material-relocation behavior during severe accident

Abe, Yuta; Yamashita, Takuya; Sato, Ikken; Nakagiri, Toshio; Ishimi, Akihiro; Nagae, Yuji

Proceedings of 26th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-26) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2018/07

https://asme.pinetec.com/icone26/

Heat treatment of phosphate-modified cementitious matrices for safe storage of secondary radioactive aqueous wastes in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Irisawa, Keita; Taniguchi, Takumi; Namiki, Masahiro; Garca-Lodeiro, I.*; Osugi, Takeshi; Sakakibara, Tetsuro; Nakazawa, Osamu; Meguro, Yoshihiro; Kinoshita, Hajime*

Proceedings of 2017 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2017) (CD-ROM), 6 Pages, 2017/04

A solidification technique with minimized water content is being developed using phosphate cements for the safe storage of secondary radioactive wastes in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Conventional cement systems become solidified via hydration reactions, and need a certain water content. Phosphate cement systems, however, become solidified via an acid-base reaction, and so they only require water mainly for reasons of workability. A reduced water content of phosphate cement systems is beneficial for the immobilization of the radioactive wastes from mitigating the potential to generate hydrogen gas by the radiolysis of water by radioactive wastes. The current study investigated the water content and mineralogy of calcium aluminate cement (CAC) and phosphate-modified CAC (CAP) cured in open systems at 60, 90 and 120 C and in a closed system at 20 C as a reference case. Water contents in both the CAC and the CAP were seen to decrease as curing progressed. For 90 C, the CAP contained less water than CAC. Free water in CAC converted to structural water by heat treatment, but this was not the case for CAP. An orthophosphate hydrate salt, a precursor phase of hydroxyapatite, was found in CAP when cured at 20 and 60 C, and a mixture of the orthophosphate hydrate salt and hydroxyapatite, Ca(PO)(OH), were formed in the CAP when cured at 90 C. Phosphate products in CAP cured at 120 C appears to consist of a different phosphate phase compared with the CAP cured at 20, 60 and 90 C.

Investigation of countermeasure against local temperature rise in vessel cooling system in loss of core cooling test without nuclear heating

Ono, Masato; Shimizu, Atsushi; Kondo, Makoto; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Shinohara, Masanori; Tochio, Daisuke; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Takada, Shoji; Sawa, Kazuhiro

Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 2(4), p.044502_1 - 044502_4, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4032478

In the loss of forced core cooling test using High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), the forced cooling of reactor core is stopped without inserting control rods into the core and cooling by Vessel Cooling System (VCS) to verify safety evaluation codes to investigate the inherent safety of HTGR be secured by natural phenomena to make it possible to design a severe accident free reactor. The VCS passively removes the retained residual heat and the decay heat from the core via the reactor pressure vessel by natural convection and thermal radiation. In the test, the local temperature was supposed to exceed the limit from the viewpoint of long-term use at the uncovered water cooling tube by thermal reflectors in the VCS, although the safety of reactor is kept. Through a cold test, which was carried out by non-nuclear heat input from gas circulators with stopping water flow in the VCS, the local higher temperature position was specified although the temperature was sufficiently lower than the maximum allowable working temperature, and natural circulation of water had insufficient cooling effect on the temperature of water cooling tube below 1C. Then, a new safe and secured procedure for the loss of forced core cooling test was established, which will be carried out soon after the restart of HTTR.

Preparation for a new experimental program addressing core-material-relocation behavior during severe accident with BWR design conditions; Conduction of preparatory tests applying non-transfer-type plasma heating technology

Abe, Yuta; Sato, Ikken; Ishimi, Akihiro; Nakagiri, Toshio; Nagae, Yuji

Proceedings of 24th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-24) (DVD-ROM), 7 Pages, 2016/06

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE24-60249

A new experimental program using non-transfer type plasma heating is under consideration in JAEA to clarify the uncertainty on core-material relocation (CMR) behavior of BWR. In order to confirm the applicability of this new technology, authors performed preparatory plasma heating tests using small-scale test pieces (107 mm 107 mm 222 mmh). Based on these preliminary results, an excellent perspective in terms of applicability of the non-transfer plasma heating technology to the SA (Severe Accident) experimental study was obtained. Furthermore, JAEA is preparing for the next step intermediate-scale preparatory tests in 2016 using ca. 50 rods and a control blade that would not only confirm its technical applicability, but also some insights relevant to the issue on CMR itself.

Computational and experimental examination of simulated core damage and relocation dynamics of a BWR fuel assembly

Hanus, G.*; Sato, Ikken; Iwama, Tatsuya*

Proceedings of International Waste Management Symposia 2016 (WM2016) (Internet), 12 Pages, 2016/03

JAEA plans a large-scale test to evaluate damage and relocation behavior of BWR core materials consisting of fuel rods, channel boxes, control blade and lower support structures. Its purpose is to contribute to understanding of core material relocation behavior in the event of severe accidents with the BWR design conditions for which existing experimental database is quite limited. Prior to large-scale testing, JAEA desires preliminary investigations to examine melting test pieces. The purpose of such tests is to verify the materials and test piece will be heated by plasma to the target temperature (ca.2900K) and to collect data about the material relocation behavior. Results from preliminary computational simulations are presented illustrating the effectiveness of a 150 kW non-transferred plasma jet. An experimental test program using the computational analyses as a basis and a plasma torch is described.

Evaluation of seawater effects on thermal-hydraulic behavior for severe accident conditions, 1; Outline of the research project

Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Uesawa, Shinichiro; Nagatake, Taku; Jiao, L.; Liu, W.; Takase, Kazuyuki

Proceedings of International Conference on Power Engineering 2015 (ICOPE 2015) (CD-ROM), 9 Pages, 2015/11