An analysis of the hydrogen explosion in the Fukushima-Daiichi accident

Yáñez, Jorge; Кузнецов, М.; Souto-Iglesias, Antonio

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.03.154

Cited by 114 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…As water corrodes these metal components, hydrogen is formed, accumulated, and if not treated properly, may result in explosion. Fukushima accident in 2011 was the result of explosion of hydrogen accumulated this way [13]. Hydrogen safety is also highly relevant to the chemical and process industries [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modular phenomenological model for vented explosions and its validation with experimental and computational results

Sinha

Rao

Wen

2019

Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries

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The present study reports a modular engineering model for predicting peak pressure in vented explosions. Modelling assumptions are explained in detail and model components are validated against experimental and computational results. A basic version of this model is reported in our earlier paper (Sinha et al. [1]). Previous experimental and modelling efforts on vented explosion have primarily focussed on idealized condition of empty container with uniformly mixed fuel. However, in real accidents, there are often obstacles in flame path, and a leaked fuel may not get enough time to mix uniformly. These realistic accidental scenarios are accounted for in this extended model. The model is further simplified, and a final equation is proposed which depend on two fuel related parameters and two geometric parameters. Fuel parameters are pre-tabulated, and geometric parameters are easy to compute. Procedure to compute pressure generated by external explosion and internal pressure are outlined in detail. Experimental results available in open literature are used to evaluate model prediction capabilities. The model, in principle should be applicable for any gaseous fuel. However, the focus of the present investigation is to assess it for hydrogen explosions. In parallel to the modelling effort, a dedicated in-house solver HyFOAM is developed utilizing OpenFOAM platform. The HyFOAM predictions are validated against experimental results from the recently published test data involving hydrogen explosion in a 20-feet ISO container (Skjold et al. [2-4]). Moreover, as experimental investigations are expensive and require significant testing and safety infrastructure, a limited number of scenarios can be tested experimentally. In 2 addition to the experimental results, few more cases are simulated using HyFOAM and engineering model results are compared with the CFD results, and a reasonably good match is observed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modular phenomenological model for vented explosions and its validation with experimental and computational results

Sinha

Rao

Wen

2019

Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries

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“…The amount of hydrogen consumed in the explosion is important because scale of explosion is determined. Yanez et al estimate the amount of hydrogen involved in the explosions that happened in the Fukushima‐Daiichi accident (unit 1). The 65 to 120 kg and 50 to 270 kg of hydrogen are estimated to be involved in the hydrogen explosion using two different analytic formulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of hydrogen and dust explosion after vacuum vessel rupture: Preliminary safety analysis of Korean fusion demonstration reactor using MELCOR

2017

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SummaryHydrogen explosion is one of the most dangerous accident phenomena in both nuclear fusion and fission reactor. In the typical fusion reactor, tritium and deuterium are fuel elements for fusion reaction, and they exist in condensed state around the cryo-pump in the normal operation condition. In the accident situation, increasing heat transfer system temperature can mobilize lots of tritium in the vacuum vessel. And then, coolant can react with high-temperature structures generating hydrogen gas inside vacuum vessel. In addition, air ingress into plasma terminates fusion reaction producing activated dust on the first wall plasma facing surfaces. Through these series of process, mobilized tritium and dust aerosol can explode in the vacuum vessel and damage the containment building integrity, making a sort of source term leakage to environment through various system volumes. In this paper, preliminary safety analysis for hydrogen and dust explosion accident for assumed design of Korean fusion demonstration reactor is conducted. An MELCOR system analysis code is used to simulate this accident and parametric analysis to investigate effect on the accident scale and safety systems like detritiation system such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning isolation system and pressure suppression system. As a result, aerosol distribution of each control volume and its release route are estimated, and final aerosol release to the environment is compared with release guideline for ITER. The amount of mobilized aerosol in demonstration reactor is evaluated conservatively using ITER normal operation condition.

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“…However, significant safety issues associated with hydrogen occur in pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors of nuclear power plants (Yanez et al, 2015). The interaction of the melted core with the cooling water can generate large quantities of hydrogen during a severe accident, which can results in a flammable mixture being formed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Simulation of Hydrogen Combustion: Global Reaction Model and Validation

Zhang

Liu

2017

Front. Energy Res.

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Due to the complexity of modeling the combustion process in nuclear power plants, the global mechanisms are preferred for numerical simulation. To quickly perform the highly resolved simulations with limited processing resources of large-scale hydrogen combustion, a method based on thermal theory was developed to obtain kinetic parameters of global reaction mechanism of hydrogen-air combustion in a wide range. The calculated kinetic parameters at lower hydrogen concentration (C hydrogen < 20%) were validated against the results obtained from experimental measurements in a container and combustion test facility. In addition, the numerical data by the global mechanism (C hydrogen > 20%) were compared with the results by detailed mechanism. Good agreement between the model prediction and the experimental data was achieved, and the comparison between simulation results by the detailed mechanism and the global reaction mechanism show that the present calculated global mechanism has excellent predictable capabilities for a wide range of hydrogen-air mixtures.

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An analysis of the hydrogen explosion in the Fukushima-Daiichi accident

Cited by 114 publications

References 13 publications

Modular phenomenological model for vented explosions and its validation with experimental and computational results

Modular phenomenological model for vented explosions and its validation with experimental and computational results

Analysis of hydrogen and dust explosion after vacuum vessel rupture: Preliminary safety analysis of Korean fusion demonstration reactor using MELCOR

Numerical Simulation of Hydrogen Combustion: Global Reaction Model and Validation

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