Steam explosion experiments using partially oxidized corium

Abstract

Two steam explosion experiments were performed in the TROI (Test for Real cOrium Interaction with water) facility by using partially oxidized molten corium (core material), which is produced during a postulated core melt accident in a nuclear reactor. A triggered steam explosion occurred in one case, but none occurred in the other case. The dynamic pressure and the dynamic load measured in the former experiment show a stronger explosion than those performed previously with oxidic corium. Meanwhile, a steam explosion is prohibited when the melt temperature is low, because the melt is easily solidified to prevent a liquid-liquid interaction. The partially oxidized corium could enhance the strength of a steam explosion due to the thermal energy from an exothermic chemical reaction between the water and the uranium metal with a sufficient superheat extracted during melting. The melt composition effect on a steam explosion load, which was not included during the nuclear design, needs to be included in it.

Hazard analysis and safety assurance for the integration of nuclear reactors and thermochemical hydrogen plants

“…It has been reported that serious steam explosion may take place when liquid water contacts liquid metal or salt (Nelson et al, 2005;Kim et al, 2008). This paper speculates on this issue because the pipeline may be constructed over a long distance and the leak of soil or channel water into the pipeline due to seismic or corrosive causes may occur.…”

“…In comparison, the corrosion attack on the pipes by steam, supercritical water, and supercritical CO 2 depend on temperature and pipe materials. As to the molten salts, the research has been performed in the past decades on the chemical corrosion and abrasion phenomena (Peterson et al, 2003;Sabharwall et al, 2010), there are still many unknowns today and the molten salt chemistry plays a major role in the viability demonstration of molten salt nuclear reactor (Nelson et al, 2005;Kim et al, 2008). So it is concluded that the intermediate heat exchanger may have the same viability challenge if using molten salt as the secondary heat transfer fluid.…”

“…Therefore, to find a molten salt with low solidification point is a part of the future research to avoid the pipe clogging risk in the operation of thermochemical cycles. (Peterson et al, 2003;Sabharwall et al, 2010;Nelson et al, 2005;Kim et al, 2008). c N/A means "not applicable" because the properties are unknown or meaningless to the applications of interest here.…”

An Evaluation of the Ex-vessel Steam Explosion Load Against TROI Experimental Results

“…(4) 한국원자력연구원 에서는 이러한 실제 원자로 물질에 대한 문제를 해결하기 위하여 원자로 물질의 다양한 조성을 사 용한 TROI 실험을 수행하고 있다. (5) 실험적인 연구가 스케일링 문제 등에 있어서 원 자로에 직접 적용하기는 어렵기 때문에 해석적인 연구도 수행되었다. TEXAS-V 코드 (6) 를 포함한 여 러 증기폭발 해석코드가 실험적인 관찰을 근거로 하여 개발되었다.…”

Advances and critical assessment of machine learning techniques for prediction of docking scores

“…Nevertheless, further research regarding machine learning is still warranted, mainly due to different distribution of data sets required in drug discovery when compared to traditional artificial intelligence input data. The interested reader is referred to comprehensive reviews [34–39], in which the authors discuss advances in the field of drug discovery based on various artificial intelligence approaches.…”