DOE OSTI2016
Metal fuel has inherent safety characteristics, especially in severe accident conditions. However, the metal-fueled SFR severe accident scenarios need to be categorized since overall severe accident mitigation strategies have not been prepared. In addition, these mitigation strategies should be classified in specific phases. In an initial phase of metal-fueled SFR severe accident scenarios, fuel melting, and cladding failures would occur. After the occurrence of the cladding breach, the molten metal fuel would be ejected into a coolant channel due to fission gas in fuel cavity or rapid evaporation of sodium bond. This is called Ex-pin phenomena. There are few studies considering the Ex-pin phenomena of metal fuel. Related representative studies are transient reactor test facility (TREAT) M series tests. The TREAT M series tests provided fundamental metal fuel performance in transient condition. They informed partial experimental data such as the amount of melt ejected into coolant channel after the cladding failure. However, these experimental data did not examine the melt behavior during the Ex-pin phenomena. In metal-fueled SFR, it is a known fact that the negative reactivity feedback occurs in the initial phase of severe accident. In an unprotected loss-of-flow (ULOF) accident, the void-reactivity feedback may be positive depending on where in the reactor core the sodium voiding occurs. However, molten metal fuel would be better dispersed upward compared to those of an oxide fuel and significant negative reactivity feedback could be induced through such behaviors. Thus, a key safety strategy to mitigate the accident progression at the initial phase of severe accident is to discharge melt upwards out of the core. In this paper, the upward discharge of melt is defined as melt levitation. Such melt levitation could ensure early termination of severe accident. There could be different melting behaviors inside the pin depending on reactor types or the type of fuel. In case of pressurized water reactor (PWR) oxide fuel-water system, the rapid power excursion would initiate melting of fuel at the surface of the pellets. In this paper, the ULOF accident for the metal-fueled SFR is considered as an accident scenario. To induce the melt levitation, the driving force should be clarified. Heo et al. observed a built-up vapor pressure was suggested as one of the driving forces for the upward dispersion of the molten materials. The following factors also have the potential to induce the melt levitation; the pressure induced by fission gas in the cavity or rapid boiling of sodium bond, natural circulation flow of the sodium, the sodium vapor flow generated by the difference between inlet and outlet plenum in the reactor core, the built-up vapor pressure due to the fuel-coolant interaction etc. These factors are balanced each other. They should be examined through the Ex-pin experiments. Before conducting a parametric study for each factor, the general behavior of the molten metal fuel should be investigated in the coolant channel. Since rapid sodium coolant boiling could occur in the initial phase of severe accident scenarios, the molten fuel would be ejected and fragmented in voided channel. Unlike previous studies concerning an un-voided channel, differences in melt behavior in the voided channel are expected. In present study, molten material behavior was evaluated to reveal their characteristics in voided channel. The Ex-pin experiments were performed in both un-voided and voided channel, thus such behavior differences were explicitly observed. In the lab-scale experiments, the un-voided and voided channel were reflected by coolant-filled and air-filled channel, respectively. (authors)
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗