• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.575-602
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• 2009

In the wake of the Three Mile Island accident, vigorous research efforts were initiated to acquire a basic knowledge of the progression and consequences of accidents that involve a substantial degree of core degradation and melting. The primary emphasis of this research was placed on containment integrity, with: i) hydrogen combustion-detonation, ii) steam explosion, iii) direct containment heating (DCH), and iv) melt attack on the BWR Mark-I containment shell identified as energetic processes that could lead to early containment failure (i.e., within the first 24 hours of the accident). Should the core melt fail the reactor vessel, then non-condensable gas production from Molten Core-Concrete Interaction (MCCI) was identified as a mechanism that could fail the containment by pressurization over the long term. One signification question that arose as part of this investigation was the effectiveness of water in terminating an MCCI by flooding the interacting masses from above, thereby quenching the molten core debris and rendering it permanently coolable. Successful quenching of the core melt would prevent basemat melt through, as well as continued containment pressurization by non-condensable gas production, and so the accident progression would be successfully terminated without release of radioactivity to the environment. Based on these potential merits, ex-vessel corium coolability has been the focus of extensive research over the last 20 years as a potential accident management strategy for current plants. In addition, outcomes from this research have impacted the accident management strategies for the Gen III+LWR plant designs that are currently being deployed around the world. This paper provides: i) an historical overview of corium coolability research, ii) summarizes the current status of research in this area, and iii) highlights trends in severe accident management strategies that have evolved based on the findings from this work.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2960-2973
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• 2022

Since Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) accident in 2011, the importance of research on various severe accident phenomena has been emphasized. Particularly, detailed analysis of combustion risk is necessary following the containment damage caused by combustion in the Fukushima accident. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the risk of local hydrogen concentration increases and flame propagation using computational code. In particular, the potential for combustion by local hydrogen concentration in specific areas within the containment has been emphasized. In this study, the process of flame propagation generated inside a reactor core to containment during a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) was analyzed using MELCOR 2.1 code. Later in the LOCA scenario, it was expected that hydrogen combustion occurred inside the reactor core owing to oxygen inflow through the cold leg break area. The main driving force of the oxygen intrusion is the elevated containment pressure due to the molten corium-concrete interaction. The thermal and mechanical loads caused by the flame threaten the integrity of the containment. Additionally, the containment spray system effectiveness in this situation was evaluated because changes in pressure gradient and concentrations of flammable gases greatly affect the overall behavior of ignition and subsequent containment integrity.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1547-1554
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• 2017

VESTA (Verification of Ex-vessel corium STAbilization) and VESTA-S (-small) test facilities were constructed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in 2010 to perform various corium melt experiments. Since then, several tests have been performed for the verification of an ex-vessel core catcher design for the EU-APR1400. Ablation tests of an impinging $ZrO_2$ melt jet on a sacrificial material were performed to investigate the ablation characteristics. $ZrO_2$ melt in an amount of 65-70 kg was discharged onto a sacrificial material through a well-designed nozzle, after which the ablation depths were measured. Interaction tests between the metallic melt and sacrificial material were performed to investigate the interaction kinetics of the sacrificial material. Two types of melt were used: one is a metallic corium melt with Fe 46%, U 31%, Zr 16%, and Cr 7% (maximum possible content of U and Zr for C-40), and the other is a stainless steel (SUS304) melt. Metallic melt in an amount of 1.5-2.0 kg was delivered onto the sacrificial material, and the ablation depths were measured. Penetration tube failure tests were performed for an APR1400 equipped with 61 in-core instrumentation penetration nozzles and extended tubes at the reactor lower vessel. $ZrO_2$ melt was generated in a melting crucible and delivered down into an interaction crucible where the test specimen is installed. To evaluate the tube ejection mechanism, temperature distributions of the reactor bottom head and in-core instrumentation penetration were measured by a series of thermocouples embedded along the specimen. In addition, lower vessel failure tests for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are being performed. As a first step, the configuration of the molten core in the plant was investigated by a melting and solidification experiment. Approximately 5 kg of a mixture, whose composition in terms of weight is $UO_2$ 60%, Zr 10%, $ZrO_2$ 15%, SUS304 14%, and $B_4C$ 1%, was melted in a cold crucible using an induction heating technique.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.177-185
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• 2022

Hydrogen risk in the containment filtered venting system (CFVS) vessel was analyzed, considering operation pressure and modes with the effect of PAR and accident scenarios. The CFVS is to depressurize the containment by venting the containment atmosphere through the filtering system. The CFVS could be subject to hydrogen risk due to the change of atmospheric conditions while the containment atmosphere passes through the CFVS. It was found that hydrogen risk increased as the CFVS opening pressure was set higher because more combustible gases generated by Molten Core Concrete Interaction flowed into the CFVS. Hydrogen risk was independent of operation modes and found only at the early phase of venting both for continuous and cyclic operation modes. With PAR, hydrogen risk appeared only at the 0.9 MPa opening pressure for Station Black-Out accidents. Without PAR, however, hydrogen risk appeared even with the CFVS opening set-point of 0.5 MPa. In a slow accident like SBO, hydrogen risk was more threatening than a fast accident like Large Break Loss-of-Coolant Accident. Through this study, it is recommended to set the CFVS opening pressure lower than 0.9 MPa and to operate it in the cyclic mode to keep the CFVS available as long as possible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2836-2846
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• 2020

During severe nuclear power plant (NPP) accidents, a H₂/CO mixture can be generated in the reactor pressure vessel by core degradation and in the containment as well by molten corium-concrete interaction. In spite of its importance, a state-of-the-art methodology predicting H₂/CO combustion risk relies predominantly on empirical correlations. It is therefore necessary to develop a proper methodology for flammability evaluation of H₂/CO mixtures at ex-vessel phases characterized by three factors: CO concentration, high temperature, and diluents. The developed methodology adopted Le Chatelier's law and a calculated non-adiabatic flame temperature model. The methodology allows the consideration of the individual effect of the heat transfer characteristics of hydrogen and carbon monoxide on low flammability limit prediction. The accuracy of the developed model was verified using experimental data relevant to ex-vessel phase conditions. With the developed model, the prediction accuracy was improved substantially such that the maximum relative prediction error was approximately 25% while the existing methodology showed a 76% error. The developed methodology is expected to be applicable for flammability evaluation in chemical as well as NPP industries.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2017

Accurate prediction of size, shape and velocity of a bubble rising through a liquid pool is very important for predicting the particulate removal efficiency in pool scrubbing, for designing engineering safety features to prepare for severe accidents in nuclear power plants, and for predicting the emission of fission products from MCCI (molten core-concrete interaction) process during severe accidents. In this review article, previous studies on the determination of the size, shape and rising velocity of a bubble in liquid are reviewed. Various theoretical and parameterization formulas calculating the bubble size, shape and velocity from physical properties of liquid and gas flowrate are compared. Recent studies tend to suggest simple parameterizations that can easily determine the bubble shape and rising velocity without iteration, whereas iteration has to be performed to determine the bubble shape and velocity in old theories. The recent parameterizations show good agreement with measured data obtained from experiments conducted using different liquid materials with very diverse physical properties, proving themselves to be very useful tools for researchers in related fields.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1172-1179
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• 2020

As a Lagrangian particle method, Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method has great capability to capture interface/surface. In recent years, the multiphase flow simulation using MPS method has become one of the important directions of its developments. In this study, some key methods for multiphase flow have been introduced. The interface tension model in multiphase flow is modified to maintain the smooth of the interface and suitable for the three-phase flow. The mass transfer at immiscible liquid interface entrained by single bubble which could occur in Molten Core-Concrete Interaction (MCCI) has been investigated using this particle method. With the increase of bubble size, the height of entrainment column also increases, but the time of film rupture is slightly different. With the increase of density ratio between the two liquids, the height of entrained column decreases significantly due to the decreasing buoyancy of the denser liquid in the lighter liquid. In addition, the larger the interface tension coefficient is, the more rapidly the entrained denser liquid falls. This study validates that the MPS method has shown great performance for multiphase flow simulation. Besides, the influence of physical parameters on the mass transfer at immiscible interface has also been investigated in this study.