Fuel coolant interaction experiments in TROI using a UO2/ZrO2 mixture

Phase separation of metal-added corium and its effect on a steam explosion

“…For the melting tests, induction heating in a cold crucible was used as a melting technique [9,10]. Though a cylindrical cold crucible is in contact with a high temperature melt during induction heating, it maintains several tens of°C because of cooling with circulating water in the double copper tube-fingers.…”

The Effect of Material Composition on the Strength of a Steam Explosion

“…Recent findings of a strong effect of a material on the strength of a steam explosion in the case of a prototypic material [2][3][4][5] opened a new aspect for a steam explosion phenomenon. A difference in the strength of steam explosion was found between a stimulant material of an alumina and a prototypic corium [3] and between coriums at different compositions [4].…”

“…A difference in the strength of steam explosion was found between a stimulant material of an alumina and a prototypic corium [3] and between coriums at different compositions [4].…”

“…In this paper, the physical and chemical analyses were performed on the fast-quenched corium particles collected from a test section after steam explosion experiments performed in TROI test facility [4]. The analysis is focused on the investigation of the fundamental mechanism responsible for the effect of a corium composition on the strength of a steam explosion.…”

“…Thus, it was necessary to focus on the potential material effect during a triggering and explosion phase, where the heat transfer between fine particles and a two-phase mixture occurs and the particles are subjected to a pressure wave. 740 Downloaded by [University of South Florida] at 08:33 19 November 2014 Because previous efforts [4,5] were limited to the case of oxidic corium, which consisted of a mixture of UO 2 and ZrO 2 , the present analysis is extended to the partially oxidized corium to consider the reactor situation as much as possible. The composition was chosen such that the amount of steel could result in a density inversion due to an existence of a miscibility gap [6], which has recently been observed in the frame of the MASCA program [7].…”