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Spontaneous Steam Explosions Observed In The Fuel Coolant Interaction Experiments Using Reactor Materials  

Jinho Song (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Park, Ikkyu (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Yongseung Sin (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Kim, Jonghwan (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Seongwan Hong (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Byungtae Min (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Kim, Heedong (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Publication Information
Nuclear Engineering and Technology / v.34, no.4, 2002 , pp. 344-357 More about this Journal
Abstract
The present paper reports spontaneous steam explosions observed in fuel coolant interaction experiments using prototypic reactor materials. Pure ZrO$_2$ and a mixture of UO$_2$ and ZrO$_2$ are used. A high temperature molten material in the form of a jet is poured into a subcooled water pool located in a pressure vessel. An induction skull melting technique is used for the melting of the reactor material. In both tests using pure ZrO$_2$ and a mixture of UO$_2$ and ZrO$_2$, either a quenching or a spontaneous steam explosion was observed. The morphology of debris and pressure profile clearly indicate the differences between the qunching cases and explosion cases. The dynamic pressure. dynamic impulse, water temperature, melt temperature, and static pressure Inside the containment chamber were measured . As the spontaneous steam explosion for the reactor material is firstly observed in the present experiments, the results of present experiments could be a siginificant step forward the understanding the explosion of the reactor material.
Keywords
reactor material; steam explosion; TROI; $UO_2 / ZrO_2$;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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