Corium-Sodium and Corium-Water Fuel-Coolant-Interaction Experimental Programs for the PLINIUS2 Prototypic Corium Platform

Characterization of high-temperature nuclear fuel-coolant interactions through X-ray visualization and image processing

“…To mitigate the prompt criticality risk, corium discharge tubes are designed to relocate molten nuclear fuel outside the core area before a high reactivity is reached [1]. The discharge of a coherent jet of molten core material, through these corium discharge tubes [1], or control rod guide tubes [2], to the core catcher plenum of the SFR [3] presents a number of significant heat and mass transfer challenges for nuclear engineers.…”

“…Nonetheless, ensuring containment integrity and maintaining in vessel retention of the molten fuel during a post-accident scenario remains essential. Experimental investigation of fuel-coolant interactions (FCI) is critical to understanding the dynamics of melt fragmentation, debris bed formation, the potential for energetic vapor explosions [3], and for validating FCI modeling codes such as SCONE [4].…”