The WETCOR-1 test of simultaneous interactions of a high-temperature melt with water and a limestone/common-sand concrete is described. The test used a 34.1-kg melt of 76.8 w/o A1203, 16.9 w/o CaO, and 4.0 w/o SiO2 heated by induction using tungsten susceptors. Once quasi-steady attack on concrete by the melt was established, an attempt was made to quench the melt at 1850 K with 295 K water flowing at 57 liters per minute. Net power into the melt at the time of water addition was 0.61 + 0.19 W/cm 3. The test configuration used in the WETCOR-1 test was designed to delay melt freezing to the walls of the test fixture. This was done to test hypotheses concerning the inherent stability of crust formation when hightemperature melts are exposed to water. No instability in crust formation was observed. The flux of heat through the crust to the water pool maintained over the melt in the test was found to be 0.52 + 0.13 MW/n_. Solidified crusts were found to attenuate aerosol emissions during the melt concrete interactions by factors of 1.3 to 3.5. The combination of a solidified crust and a 30-cm deep subcooled water pool was found to attenuate aerosol emissions by factors of 3 to 15.
Four inductively sustained experiments, QT-D, QT-E, SURC-3, and SURC-3A, were performed in order to investigate the additional effects of zirconium metal oxidation on core debris-concrete interactions using molten stainless steel as the core debris simulant. The QT-D experiment ablated 18 cm of concrete axially during 50 minutes of interaction on limestone-common sand concrete using a 10 kg charge of 304 stainless steel to which 2 kg of zirconium metal was added subsequent to the onset of erosion. The QT-E experiment ablated 10 cm of limestone-common sand concrete axially and 10 cm radially during 35 minutes of sustained interaction using 50 kg of stainless steel and 10 kg of zirconium. The SURC-3 experiment had a 45 kg charge of stainless steel to which 1.1 kg of zirconium was subsequently added. SURC-3 axially eroded 33 cm of limestone concrete during two hours of interaction. The fourth experiment, SURC-3A, eroded 25 cm of limestone concrete axially and 9 cm radially during 90 minutes of sustained interaction. It utilized 40 kg of stainless steel and 2.2 kg of added zirconium as the charge material. All four experiments showed in a large increase in erosion rate, gas production, and aerosol release following the addition of Zr metal to the melt; In the SURC-3 and SURC-3A tests the measured erosion rates increased from 14 cm/hr to 27 cm/hr, gas release increased from 50 slpm to 100 slpm, and aerosol release increased from .02 g/sec to .04 g/sec. The effluent gas was composed of 80% CO, 10% C02, and 2% Ha before Zr addition and 92% CO, 4 % C02, 4% H2 during the Zr interactions which lasted 10-20 minutes.
An inductively heated experiment SURC-1, using U0,-Zr02 material, was executed to measure and assess the thermal, gas, and aerosol source terms produced during core debdconcrete interactions. The SURC-1 experiment eroded a total of 27 cm of limestone concrete during 130 minutes of sustained interaction using 204.2 kg of malten prototypic U02-Zr0, core debris material that included 18 kg of Zr metal and 3.4 kg of fission product simulants. The melt pool temperature ranged from 2100 to 2400°C during the first 50 minutes of the test, followed by steady temperatures of 2000 to 2100°C during the middle portion of the test and temperatures of 1800 to 2000°C during the final 50 minutes of testing. The total erosion during the first 50 minutes was 16 cm with an additional 2 cm during the middle part of the test and 9 cm of ablation during the final 50 minutes. Aerosols were continuously released in concentrations ranging from 30 to 200 g/m3. Comprehensive gas flow rates, gas compositions, and aerosol compositions were also measured during the SURC-1 test. ...
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