Small-scale experiments on melt spreading and deposition via melt-jet impingement on a dry substrate; Evaluation of empirical correlations for deposition area of continuous layered debris

岩澤 譲; 柴本 泰照; 丸山 結

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 446(Part B), p.114599_1 - 114599_16, 2026/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2025.114599

Continuous layered debris deposited due to the molten core (melt) spreading across the floor of a containment vessel can pose a serious threat to containment integrity during severe accidents in light water reactors. The present study conducted small-scale experiments to investigate melt spreading process and subsequent deposition of continuous layered debris via melt-jet impingement onto a floor. The small-scale experiments were conducted using a low-melting-point metal under dry conditions without coolant water. High-speed imaging and image processing techniques were employed to elucidate the influence of melt injection conditions on melt spreading and subsequent deposition of continuous layered debris. The use of larger nozzle sizes and more highly superheated melts enabled the expansion of the experimental database. Based on the experimental results, we identified appropriate correlations from those proposed in previous studies to estimate the debris deposition area and evaluated their predictive accuracies. These correlations were then applied to estimate the potential spreading area of the relocated melt under anticipated reactor-scale conditions. The analysis revealed that thermal effects, such as heat transfer to the floor, influence the potential spreading area, could be incorporated into the correlations for applications under the anticipated reactor-scale conditions.

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 Accident analysis considering the thermal stratification and containment leakage

中村 勇気*; 小島 良洋*; 山下 拓哉; 下村 健太; 溝上 伸也

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 62(12), p.1226 - 1230, 2025/12

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2025.2570371

In 2011, at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, it has been reported that several Units of containment vessel had failed, and large quantity of radionuclides had been released into the environment, however, the detail of accident progression with core melt, reactor and containment vessel failure, has still large uncertainties. Especially for the Unit 2 and Unit 3, even they had succeeded in the initial core cooling, at last lost cooling system and fell into severe accident into large release of the fission product into the environment. To clarify these uncertainties in accident scenario, considering the latest information and several insights, the latest accident scenario for Unit 2 and Unit 3 are studied using the severe accident analysis code in this study. It is shown that both Units would result in the thermal stratification in the containment water which encouraged the containment pressure increase at the early phase of the accident. On the other hand, it would be also possible that containment leakage happened to decrease the containment pressure at the later phase of the accident.

Steam Explosion Simulation Code JASMINE v.3 User's Guide; Revised for code version 3.3c

岩澤 譲; 松本 俊慶; 森山 清史*

JAEA-Data/Code 2025-001, 199 Pages, 2025/06

JAEA-Data-Code-2025-001.pdf:9.71MB

水蒸気爆発では、揮発性を有する低温の液体に高温の液体が接触した場合に高温の液体から低温の液体への急激な熱伝達により、高温の液体の細粒化と低温の液体の爆発的な相変化が連鎖的に発生する。爆発的な相変化により発生する衝撃波は低温の液体の内部を伝播する。衝撃波の伝播に伴い高温の液体と低温の液体の混合物が膨張することにより、周囲に存在する構造体に機械的な負荷を与える可能性がある。軽水炉のシビアアクシデントでは、原子炉格納容器へ移行した溶融炉心(溶融物)と冷却水との相互作用に起因して発生する水蒸気爆発が原子炉格納容器の健全性に対する脅威となることが想定される。このことから、水蒸気爆発の発生が周囲に存在する構造体へ与える機械的な負荷を評価することが安全評価の観点から重要となる。原子力機構では、実際の原子炉にて発生した水蒸気爆発が周囲に存在する構造体へ与える機械的な負荷を評価することを目的としてJASMINEコードを開発した。機構論的な手法を取り入れることにより、JASMINEコードは水蒸気爆発を数値解析上で取り扱うことができる。本書はJASMINEコードに採用されている基礎方程式、数値解法及び数値解析例を記載した取扱説明書である。本書に記載した数値解析例を参照することにより、JASMINEコードによる数値解析で得られた結果を検証できるように配慮した。入力条件の作成方法、コードの実行手順及び補助ツールの使用方法を記載することにより、JASMINEコードを用いた数値解析を実践できるよう配慮した。本書は「水蒸気爆発解析コードJASMINE v.3ユーザーズガイド(JAEA-Data/Code 2008-014)」の改訂版である。公開されているJASMINE 3.3bの軽微な不具合の修正に加えて、UNIX 系システムで広く使用されているGNU コンパイラー等に適合するための修正を施した最新版を JASMINE 3.3cとした。改訂版は、新規に公開される JASMINE 3.3cによる数値解析の結果に基づき作成されているために、掲載されている数値解析の結果を再現できる。数値解析の実施に際しては、既存研究により提案されている調整係数の決定方法を採用した。

Uncertainty quantification for severe-accident reactor modelling; Results and conclusions of the MUSA reactor applications work package

Brumm, S.*; Gabrielli, F.*; Sanchez Espinoza, V.*; Stakhanova, A.*; Groudev, P.*; Petrova, P.*; Vryashkova, P.*; Ou, P.*; Zhang, W.*; Malkhasyan, A.*; et al.

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 211, p.110962_1 - 110962_16, 2025/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110962

The completed Horizon-2020 project on "Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accidents (MUSA)" has reviewed uncertainty sources and Uncertainty Quantification methodology for the purpose of assessing Severe Accidents (SA). The key motivation of the project has been to bring the advantages of the Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty approach to the field of Severe Accident. The applications brought together a large group of participants that set out to apply uncertainty analysis (UA) within their field of SA modelling expertise, in particular reactor types, but also SA code used (ASTEC, MELCOR, etc.), uncertainty quantification tools used (DAKOTA, RAVEN, etc.), detailed accident scenarios, and in some cases SAM actions. This paper synthesizes the reactor-application work at the end of the project. Analyses of 23 partners are sorted into different categories, depending on whether their main goal is/are (i) uncertainty bands of simulation results; (ii) the understanding of dominating uncertainties in specific sub-models of the SA code; (iii) improving the understanding of specific accident scenarios, with or without the application of SAM actions; or, (iv) a demonstration of the tools used and developed, and of the capability to carry out an uncertainty analysis in the presence of the challenges faced. The partners' experiences made during the project have been evaluated and are presented as good practice recommendations. The paper ends with conclusions on the level of readiness of UA in SA modelling, on the determination of governing uncertainties, and on the analysis of SAM actions.

First freezing experiments with a molten mixture of boron carbide and stainless steel in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors

江村 優軌; 松場 賢一; 菊地 晋; 山野 秀将

Proceedings of 13th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS13) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2024/11

Assuming the CDA of SFRs, the eutectic melting between BC as a control rod material and stainless steel (SS) as a structural material could occur below their melting points. After that, the mixture produced by eutectic melting between BC and SS (BC-SS mixture) would relocate inside or outside of the original core region. From the viewpoint of core reactivity changes, the relocation behavior of BC-SS mixture induced by its melting/freezing behavior, is one of the key elements to evaluate the CDA consequences. Many experimental studies on freezing behavior using core materials and its simulants, including molten UO, SS, tin, wood's metal have been reported in the past. Based on these experimental findings, the freezing/blockage model for the severe accident simulation code was established and discussed through analyses of freezing process. Specifically, it has been considered that the experimental correlation of melt-penetration length was a key indicator to quantitatively describe freezing behavior. However, there was no experimental data for the freezing behavior of actual BC-SS mixture. Therefore, the freezing experiments of BC-SS mixture were conducted to investigate the freezing and blockage behavior inside a flow path such as fuel pin bundle. In the freezing experiments, BC powder and SS block were heated up to around 1,750 K using a graphite heating furnace, then BC-SS mixture flowed down into an SS pipe for cooling below 750 K. The experimental results showed that the BC-SS mixture solidified and resulted in the blockage in the SS pipe with 4 mm or 6.7 mm in inner diameter, respectively. Furthermore, the observations for cross section of SS pipe suggested that the BC-SS mixture penetrated deeper than molten SS. This difference is considered to be influenced by decrease of the melting point.

France-Japan collaboration on severe accident studies in sodium-cooled fast reactors, 2; Methodologies and calculations of severe accident phases

曽我部 丞司; 石田 真也; 田上 浩孝; 岡野 靖; 神山 健司; 小野田 雄一; 松場 賢一; 山野 秀将; 久保 重信; 久保田 龍三朗*; et al.

Proceedings of International Conference on Nuclear Fuel Cycle (GLOBAL2024) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2024/10

日仏協力の枠組みにおいて、タンク型ナトリウム冷却高速を対象とした過酷事故の評価手法を定義し、解析評価を実施した。

Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in severe accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors, 3; Material analysis of boron carbide immersed in molten stainless steel

高井 俊秀; 江村 優軌; 山野 秀将

Proceedings of 14th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics, Operation, and Safety (NUTHOS-14) (Internet), 11 Pages, 2024/08

Interest in eutectic reaction between boron carbide, which used as control rod material and stainless steel, which used as cladding tubes, etc. is growing from a perspective to improve analysis accuracy of severe accidents analysis codes. Immersion experiment of boron carbide pellet into molten stainless steel were carried out in the temperature range between 1773 and 1973 K. The eutectic melting behavior of the pellet were investigated by observing the cross section of the pellet using an optical microscope, a scanning type electron microscope. And elemental distribution in there and crystal structure were analyzed to clarify the eutectic reaction behavior. Based on the thickness reduction of the pellet cross section, the reaction rate constants between boron carbide and stainless steel were evaluated under various conditions of contact temperature and contact time.

The Development of Petri Net-based continuous Markov Chain Monte Carlo methodology applying to dynamic probability risk assessment for multi-state resilience systems with repairable multi-component interdependency under longtermly thereat

Li, C.-Y.; 渡部 晃*; 内堀 昭寛; 岡野 靖

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 61(7), p.935 - 957, 2024/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2023.2290067

For all the nuclear reactor systems, quantitative assessment of the accident management (AM) effects against long-term external hazards became one of the essential issues after the lesson learned from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. However, the influence from the safety systems' stochastic and dynamic shifting between multiple working states, which is related to the interaction with the adjacent components/systems in general, has not been accounted for yet. Therefore, this research aims to develop a dynamic probability risk assessment tool considering repairable multi-component interdependency for investigating the AM influences on the multi-state safety systems under long-term external hazards. Based on the newly proposed methodology in this research via integrating the Petri Net (PN) model with the continuous Markov chain Monte Carlo (CMMC) method, a framework applying PN-CMMC methodology to a severe accident analysis code, SPECTRA, had been originally constructed. Different AM influences on the multi-state decay heat removal systems against long-term volcanic ashfall were also quantitatively confirmed, indicating that halving the repairing time is more influential in suppressing the core damage frequency than doubling the number of adjacent electricity support systems. Therefore, the PN-CMMC-SPECTRA framework can further assess the uncharted dynamic multi-state concerns, leading to a safer AM strategy.

シビアアクシデント統合評価解析コードSPECTRAを用いた炉心損傷解析

石田 真也; 内堀 昭寛; 岡野 靖

第28回動力・エネルギー技術シンポジウム講演論文集(インターネット), 4 Pages, 2024/06

本研究では、炉心損傷事故の起因過程から遷移過程までの一貫解析も可能な炉心損傷挙動評価モジュールの開発を行い、ナトリウム冷却高速炉のシビアアクシデント時の原子炉全体の挙動を一貫して評価する解析コードSPECTRAに導入した。本モジュールを含むSPECTRAの統合的な妥当性確認の一環として、混合酸化物(MOX)燃料炉心における炉心流量喪失時原子炉停止機能喪失事象(ULOF)を対象とした解析を実施し、冷却材の沸騰から燃料ピンの破損、損傷領域の拡大に至るまでの高速炉の炉心損傷事故を評価するための機能がSPECTRAに備わっていることを確認した。

Formulation of material property formula for calculation of damage in reactor pressure vessel during accident evaluation

下村 健太; 山下 拓哉; 永江 勇二

Proceedings of 11th European Review Meeting on Severe Accident Research Conference (ERMSAR 2024) (Internet), 12 Pages, 2024/05

https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000174165/v2

From the results of the internal investigation of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 2, it was confirmed that part of the fuel assembly (upper tie plate) had fallen to the bottom of the pedestal periphery. From this result, it could be presumed that RPV has a hole large enough for the upper tie plate to drop. However, internal investigations have not revealed where the holes are located at the bottom of the RPV. One of failure mode of the RPV lower head would be assumed to be mechanical failure. In this failure, it is assumed that the RPV lower head will be damaged due to the accumulation of creep damage caused by core material above the creep temperature of the RPV substructure materials falling into the lower plenum. Such damage evaluation is performed by thermohydraulic-structure coupled analysis. In the analysis during accident, the RPV lower head is exposed to high temperature conditions. Therefore, the material properties of the RPV material in the high temperature range are required for evaluation by analysis. In this study, we obtained the strength data of RPV material form the creep temperature range to near the melting point and formulated the material property formulas (elastoplastic stress-strain, creep strain, creep rupture) necessary for mechanical failure evaluation.