• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.33-41
• /
• 2022

Liquid Bi pool is a candidate electrode for an electrometallurgical process in the molten LiCl-KCl eutectic to treat the spent nuclear fuels from nuclear power plants. The electrochemical behavior of Bi³⁺ ions and the electrode reaction on liquid Bi pool were investigated with the cyclic voltammetry in an environment with or without BiCl₃ in the molten LiCl-KCl eutectic. Experimental results showed that two redox reactions of Bi³⁺ on inert W electrode and the shift of cathodic peak potentials of Li⁺ and Bi³⁺ on liquid Bi pool electrode in molten LiCl-KCl eutectic. It is confirmed that the redox reaction of lithium with respect to the liquid Bi pool electrode would occur in a wide range of potentials in molten LiCl-KCl eutectic. The obtained data will be used to design the electrometallurgical process for treating actinide and lanthanide from the spent nuclear fuels and to understand the electrochemical reactions of actinide and lanthanide at liquid Bi pool electrode in the molten LiCl-KCl eutectic.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.73-83
• /
• 2019

It is important to clarify the mechanisms of molten-fuel-pool sloshing behavior that might be encountered during a core disruptive accident of sodium-cooled fast reactors. In this study, motivated by acquiring some evidence for understanding the characteristics of this behavior at more realistic conditions, a number of experiments are newly performed by injecting nitrogen gas into a water pool with the accumulation of solid particles. To achieve comprehensive understanding, various parameters including particle bed height, particle size, density, shape, gas pressure along with the gas-injection duration, were employed. It is found that due to the different interaction mechanisms between solid particles and the gas bubble injected, three kinds of regimes, termed respectively as the bubble-impulsion dominant regime, the transitional regime and the bed-inertia dominant regime, could be identified. The performed analyses also suggest that under present conditions, all our experimental parameters employed can have noticeable impact on the regime transition and resultant sloshing intensity (e.g. maximum elevation of water level at pool peripheries). Knowledge and fundamental data from this work will be used for the future verifications of fast reactor severe accident codes in China.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.151-155
• /
• 2006

The large amount of energy is consumed in a process for keeping the high temperature melting pool. For this reason, in addition to the wastes input to keep the high temperature melting pool, it is necessary for an auxiliary fuel and LOx to throw into the melting pool. So in this study, using a new melting furnace system, the experiments to keep the melting pool with minimal energy without throwing an auxiliary fuel and LOx was carried out. Also it is hoped that the results of the experiment will be available to analyze keeping a melting pool and behavior in a melting furnace.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.95-103
• /
• 2019

Vapor explosions can be classified in terms of modes of contact between the hot molten fuel and the coolant, since different contact modes may affect fuel-coolant mixing and subsequent vapor explosion energetics. It is generally accepted that most vapor explosion phenomena fall into three different modes of contact; fuel pouring into coolant, coolant injection into fuel and stratified fuel-coolant layers. In this study, we review previous stratified steam explosion experiments as well as recent experiments performed at the KTH in Sweden. While experiments with prototypic reactor materials are minimal, we do note that generally the energetics is limited for the stratified mode of contact. When the fuel mass involved in a steam explosion in a stratified geometry is compared to a pool geometry based on geometrical aspects, one can conclude that there is a very limited set of conditions (when melt jet diameter is small) under which a steam explosion is more energetic in a stratified geometry. However, under these limited conditions the absolute energetic explosion output would still be small because the total fuel mass involved would be limited.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 1997.05a
• /
• pp.495-501
• /
• 1997

A preliminary and parametric sensitivity study on recriticality risk of fast reactor cores after a hypothetical total core meltdown accident was performed. Only neutronic aspects of the accident were considered, independent of the accident scenario, and efforts were made to estimate the quantity of molten fuel which must be ejected out of the core to assure a sub-critical state after the accident. Two types of parameters were examined : characteristic parameters of molten core such as geometry, molten pool type (homogenized or stratified), fuel temperature, environment, and relative parameters to normal core such as core size(small or large), and fuel type (oxide, nitride, metal). The first type of parameters was found to intervene more directly in the recriticality risk than the second type of parameters.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.589-600
• /
• 2022

Investigations on the molten-pool sloshing behavior are of essential value for improving nuclear safety evaluation of Core Disruptive Accidents (CDA) that would be possibly encountered for Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (SFR). This paper is aimed at synthesizing the knowledge from our recent studies on molten-pool sloshing behavior with solid particles conducted at the Sun Yat-sen University. To better visualize and clarify the mechanism and characteristics of sloshing induced by local Fuel-Coolant Interaction (FCI), experiments were performed with various parameters by injecting nitrogen gas into a 2-dimensional liquid pool with accumulated solid particles. It was confirmed that under different particle-bed conditions, three representative flow regimes (i.e. the bubble-impulsion dominant, transitional and bed-inertia dominant regimes) are identifiable. Aimed at predicting the regime transitions during sloshing process, a predictive empirical model along with a regime map was proposed on the basis of experiments using single-sized spherical solid particles, and then was extended for covering more complex particle conditions (e.g. non-spherical, mixed-sized and mixed-density spherical particle conditions). To obtain more comprehensive understandings and verify the applicability and reliability of the predictive model under more realistic conditions (e.g. large-scale 3-dimensional condition), further experimental and modeling studies are also being prepared under other more complicated actual conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.25 no.12
• /
• pp.1887-1897
• /
• 2001

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) launched an intermediate scale steam explosion experiment named "Test for Real Corium Interaction with water (TROI)" using reactor material to investigate whether the molten reactor material would lead to energetic steam explosion when interacted wish cold water at low pressure. The melt-water interaction experiment is performed in a pressure vessel with the multi-dimensional fuel and water pool geometry. The novel concept of cold crucible technology, where powder of the reactor material in a water-cooled cafe is heated by high frequency induction, is firstly implemented for the generation of molten fuel. In this paper, the lest facility and cold crucible technology are introduced and the results or the first series of tests were discussed. The 5 kg of molten ZrO$_2$jet was poured into the 67cm deep water pool at 30 ∼ 95 $\^{C}$. Either spontaneous steam explosions or quenching was observed. The morphology of debris and pressure wave profiles clearly indicate the differences between the two cases.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2001.06e
• /
• pp.57-62
• /
• 2001

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) launched an intermediate scale steam explosion experiment named Test for Real cOrium Interaction with water (TROI) using reactor material to investigate whether the corium would lead to energetic steam explosion when interacted with cold water at low pressure. The melt-water interaction is confined in a pressure vessel with the multi-dimensional fuel and water pool geometry. The cold crucible technology, where the mixture of powder in a water-cooled cage is heated by high frequency induction, is employed. In this paper, results of the first series of tests ($TROI-1{\sim}5$) were discussed. The ZrO2 jets with 5kg mass and 5cm diameter were poured into the 67cm deep water pool at $30{\sim}95^{\circ}C$. Either spontaneous steam explosions or quenching was observed. The morphology of debris and pressure wave profiles clearly indicates the each case.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.886-892
• /
• 2024

The cladding temperatures and axial mass distribution computed by MAAP5 were compared with their measured values in the test bundle of the Phebus Test FPT0. The computed cladding temperatures were in good agreed with the measured values in the pre-transient phase. In the transient heat-up phase, the computed temperatures were overestimated by the Baker-Just correlation in MAAP5, but the computed temperatures could simulate the subsequently measured values. The computed mass distribution in the axial direction was in qualitative agreement with the measured one for post-test fuel damage observations. The calculated flow areas of inner and outer regions in the test bundle were compared with the photographic observations. MAAP5 computed them at the height of 0.2 m where the molten pool formed was in qualitative agreement with the photographic observations. It was found that the remaining steam flow paths might be caused by the gas-liquid two-phase flow counter-current flow limitation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.344-357
• /
• 2002

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.