Results of the QUENCH-18 Bundle Experiment on Air Ingress and AgInCd absorber behavior

The experiment QUENCH-18 on air ingress and aerosol release in an electrical heated test bundle with 24 rods and a length of about 2 m was successfully conducted at KIT on 27 September 2017. This test was performed in the frame of the EC supported ALISA program. It was proposed by XJTU Xi’an (China) and supported by PSI (Switzerland) and GRS (Germany). The primary aims were to examine the oxidation of M5® claddings in air/steam mixture following a limited pre-oxidation in steam, and to achieve a long period of oxygen and steam starvations to promote interaction with the nitrogen. QUENCH 18 was thus a companion test to the earlier air ingress experiments, QUENCH-10 and -16 (in contrast to QUENCH-18, these two bundle tests were performed without steam flow during the air ingress stage). Additionally, the QUENCH 18 experiment investigated the effects of the presence of two Ag-In-Cd control rods on early-stage bundle degradation (companion test to the QUENCH-13 experiment), and of two pressurized unheated rod simulators (60 bar, He). The low pressurized heater rods (2.3 bar, similar to the system pressure) were Kr-filled. In a first transient, the bundle was heated from the peak cladding temperature Tpct ≈ 900 K in an atmosphere of flowing argon (3 g/s) and superheated steam (3.3 g/s) by electrical power increase to the peak cladding temperature of Tpct ≈ 1400 K. During this heat-up (with the heat-up rate 0.3 K/s), claddings of the two pressurized rods burst at a temperature of 1045 K. The attainment of Tpct ≈ 1400 K marked the start of the pre-oxidation stage to achieve a maximum cladding oxide layer thickness of about 80 µm. Then the power was reduced from 9 to 3.8 kW (simulation of decay heat) which effected a cooling of the bundle to Tpct ≈ 1080 K, as a preparation for the air ingress stage. In the subsequent air ingress stage, the steam flow was reduced to 0.3 g/s, the argon flow was reduced to 1 g/s, and air was injected with the flow rate of 0.21 g/s. The change in flow conditions had the immediate effect of reducing the heat transfer so that the temperatures began to rise again. The first Ag-In-Cd aerosol release was registered at Tpct = 1350 K and was dominated by Cd bearing aerosols. Later in the transient, a significant release of Ag was observed along with continued Cd release, as well as a small amount of In. In contrast to the QUENCH-16 test (performed with the air ingress stage without steam flow), oxidation of bundle parts in air and steam caused release of higher chemical energy (power about 8 kW) and consequently acceleration of bundle heat-up. A strong temperature escalation started in the middle of the air ingress stage. Later a period of oxygen starvation occurred and was followed by almost complete steam consumption and partial consumption of the nitrogen, indicating the possibility of formation of zirconium nitrides. Following this the temperatures continued to increase and stabilized at melting temperature of Zr bearing materials until water injection. The total consumption of oxygen, steam and nitrogen was 100±3, 450±10 and 120±3 g, respectively. During the starvation period a noticeable production (about 25 mg/s, totally 45±1 g) of hydrogen was measured. Almost immediately after the start of reflood there was a temperature excursion in the mid to upper regions of the bundle, leading to maximum measured temperatures of about 2450 K with cladding melt release, relocation and oxidation. Reflood progressed rather slowly and final quench was achieved after about 800 s. A significant quantity of hydrogen was generated during the reflood (238±2 g). Nitrogen release (>54 g) due to re-oxidation of nitrides was also registered. Zirconium nitrides and re-oxidized nitrides were found in the middle part of the bundle. In this bundle region, the claddings and cladding melt were strongly oxidized, the melt was collected mostly inside the grid spacer. Partially oxidized Zr-bearing melt was found down to elevation 160 mm; this elevation was the lowest with evidence of relocated pellet material. At the bundle bottom, only frozen metallic melt containing Zr, Ag, In and Cd was observed between several rods. The data of the experiment are used for validation of severe accident code systems

First results of the QUENCH-ALISA bundle test

Experiment QUENCH-18 on air ingress and aerosol release was successfully conducted at KIT on 27 September 2017. This test was performed in the frame of the EC supported ALISA programme. It was proposed by XJTU Xi’an (China) and supported by PSI (Switzerland) and GRS (Germany). The primary aims were to examine the oxidation of M5® claddings (OD=9.5 mm, wall thickness 570 µm) in air/steam mixture following a limited pre-oxidation in steam, and to achieve a long period of oxygen and steam starvations to promote interaction with the nitrogen. QUENCH-18 was thus a companion test to the earlier air ingress experiments, QUENCH-10 and -16 (in contrast to QUENCH-18, these two bundle tests were performed without steam flow during the air ingress stage). Additionally, the QUENCH 18 experiment investigated the effects of the presence of two Ag/In/Cd control rods on early-phase bundle degradation (companion test to the QUENCH-13 experiment), and two pressured unheated rod simulators (60 bar, He). The low pressurised heater rods (2.3 bar, similar to the system pressure) were Kr-filled. In a first transient, the bundle was heated from the peak cladding temperature Tpct ≈ 900 K in an atmosphere of flowing argon (3 g/s) and superheated steam (3.3 g/s) by electrical power increase to the peak cladding temperature of Tpct ≈ 1400 K. During this heat-up (with the heat-up rate 0.3 K/s), claddings of the two pressurised rods were burst at temperature of 1045 K. The attainment of Tpct ≈ 1400 K marked the start of the pre-oxidation phase to achieve a maximum cladding oxide layer thickness of up to 120 µm. Then the power was reduced from 9 to 3.8 kW (simulation of decay heat) which effected a cooling of the bundle to Tpct ≈ 1080 K, as a preparation for the air ingress phase. In the subsequent air ingress stage, the steam flow was reduced to 0.3 g/s, the argon flow was reduced to 1 g/s, and air was injected with the flow rate of 0.2 g/s. The change in flow conditions had the immediate effect of reducing the heat transfer so that the temperatures began to rise again. After some time measurements demonstrated a gradual increasing consumption of oxygen. The first Ag/In/Cd aerosol release was registered at Tpct = 1350 K and was dominated by Cd bearing aerosols. Later in the transient, a significant release of Ag was observed along with continued Cd release, as well as a small amount of In. In contrast to the QUENCH-16 test (performed with the air ingress stage without steam flow), oxidation of bundle parts in steam caused release of additional chemical energy (power about 4 kW) and consequently acceleration of bundle heat-up. A strong temperature escalation started in the middle of the air ingress stage. Later a period of oxygen starvation was occurred and was followed by almost complete steam consumption and partial consumption of the nitrogen, indicating the possibility of bundle. Following this the temperatures continued to increase and stabilised at melting temperature of Zr bearing materials until water injection. The total uptakes of oxygen, steam and nitrogen were 100±3, 450±10 and 120±3 g, respectively. During the starvation period a noticeable production (about 25 mg/s, totally 45±1 g) of hydrogen was measured. Almost immediately after the start of reflood there was a temperature excursion in the mid to upper regions of the bundle, leading to maximum measured temperatures of about 2450 K. Reflood progressed rather slowly and final quench was achieved after about 800 s. A significant quantity of hydrogen was generated during the reflood (238±2 g). Nitrogen release (>54 g) due to re-oxidation of nitrides was also registered

Main outcomes of the Phebus FPT1 uncertainty and sensitivity analysis in the EU-MUSA project

The Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accidents (MUSA) project was funded in HORIZON 2020 and is coordinated by CIEMAT (Spain). The project aims at consolidating a harmonized approach for the analysis of uncertainties and sensitivities associated with Severe Accidents (SAs) analysis, focusing on source term figures of merit. The Application of Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) Methods against Integral Experiments (AUQMIE – Work Package 4 (WP4)), led by ENEA (Italy), was devoted to apply and test UQ methodologies adopting the internationally recognized PHEBUS FPT1 test. FPT1 was chosen to test UQ methodologies because, even though it is a simplified SA scenario, it was representative of the in-vessel phase of a severe accident initiated by a break in the cold leg of a PWR primary circuit. WP4 served as a platform to identify and discuss the issues encountered in the application of UQ methodol ogies to SA analyses (e.g. discuss the UQ methodology, perform the coupling between the SA codes and the UQ tools, define the results post-processing methods, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to describe the MUSA PHEBUS FPT1 uncertainty application exercise with the related specifications and the methodologies used by the partners to perform the UQ exercise. The main outcomes and lessons learned of the analysis are: scripting was in general needed for the SA code and uncertainty tool coupling and to have more flexibility; particular attention should be devoted to the proper choice of the input uncertain parameters; outlier values of figures of merit should be carefully analyzed; the computational time is a key element to perform UQ in SA; the large number of uncertain input parameters may complicate the interpretation of correlation or sensitivity analysis; there is the need for a statistically solid handling of failed calculations

First outcomes from the PHEBUS FPT1 uncertainty application done in the EU MUSA project

The Management and Uncertainties of Severe Accidents (MUSA) project, founded in HORIZON 2020 and coordinated by CIEMAT (Spain), aims to consolidate a harmonized approach for the analysis of uncertainties and sensitivities associated with Severe Accidents (SAs) by focusing on Source Term (ST) Figure of Merits (FOM). In this framework, among the 7 MUSA WPs the Application of Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) Methods against Integral Experiments (AUQMIE – Work Package 4 (WP4)), led by ENEA (Italy), looked at applying and testing UQ methodologies, against the internationally recognized PHEBUS FPT1 test. Considering that FPT1 is a simplified but representative SA scenario, the main target of the WP4 is to train project partners to perform UQ for SA analyses. WP4 is also a collaborative platform for highlighting and discussing results and issues arising from the application of UQ methodologies, already used for design basis accidents, and in MUSA for SA analyses. As a consequence, WP4 application creates the technical background useful for the full plant and spent fuel pool applications planned along the MUSA project, and it also gives a first contribution for MUSA best practices and lessons learned. 16 partners from different world regions are involved in the WP4 activities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the MUSA PHEBUS FPT1 uncertainty application exercise, the methodologies used by the partners to perform the UQ exercise, and the first insights coming out from the calculation phase

The influence of thermal radiation on the free convection inside enclosures

Natural convection is the dominant flow regime inside containments following the short-term blowdown phase. To simplify CFD computations in such flows, thermal radiation has traditionally been ignored due to the modest containments temperatures expected in typical severe accident scenarios. Recently, however, some reduced scale experiments have shown that radiation may have profound effects on the flow field even at relatively low temperature levels and differences. We will summarize two series of computations conducted with CFD tools. The first exercise consists of simulating turbulent air flow inside the DIANA cubical differentially heated cavity at PSI (Switzerland). A large eddy simulation (LES) is performed with and without wall-to-wall radiation modeling. Including radiation significantly improves the prediction of the flow field, correctly displaying a reduced level of thermal stratification and an enhanced level of turbulence. Secondly, the technical scale THAI (Becker Technologies, Germany) natural circulation test TH24 is analyzed. In this experiment, a stratified air-steam atmosphere is remobilized due to a natural circulation flow induced by wall heating in the lower part of the facility and steam condensation inside the stratified cloud. An unsteady RANS model is applied with and without consideration of the gas radiation heat transfer within the steam rich atmosphere. The comparative evaluation clearly highlights the effect of gas radiation on the overall energy balance as well as the natural circulation and mixing process. In comparison to the experimental data, a significantly improved consistency is obtained if gas radiation is considered

Studies on the role of molybdenum on iodine transport in the RCS in nuclear severe accident conditions

The effect of molybdenum on iodine transport in the reactor coolant system (RCS) under PWR severe accident conditions was investigated in the framework of the EU SARNET project. Experiments were conducted at the VTT-Institute and at IRSN and simulations of the experimental results were performed with the ASTEC severe accident simulation code.As molybdenum affects caesium chemistry by formation of molybdates, it may have a significant impact on iodine transport in the RCS. Experimentally it has been shown that the formation of gaseous iodine is promoted in oxidising conditions, as caesium can be completely consumed to form caesium polymolybdates and is thus not available for reacting with gaseous iodine and leading to CsI aerosols. In reducing conditions, CsI remains the dominant form of iodine, as the amount of oxygen is not sufficient to allow formation of quantitative caesium polymolybdates.An I–Mo–Cs model has been developed and it reproduces well the experimental trends on iodine transport

Revaporisation of fission product deposits in the primary circuit and its impact on accident source term

Chemical revaporisation or physical resuspension of fission product deposits from the primary circuit is now recognised to be a major source term in the late phase of severe fuel degradation in a severe nuclear accident. These results come from tests carried out under different experimental projects in the European Commission (EC) Framework Programmes. These include the revaporisation tests carried out at the Transuranium Institute (ITU), Karlsruhe under the Fourth Framework Programme, the Phébus FP post-test analysis programme that examined FPT1, FPT3 and FPT4 deposits in separate-effect tests as well as EXSI-PC tests carried out at VTT, Espoo. The first tests at ITU and VTT concentrated on the behaviour of caesium as a very important fission product; this has helped detailed interpretation of the integral Phébus FP tests and has clarified some puzzling observations. Testing with Phébus FPT1 and FPT4 deposits at ITU demonstrated that revaporisation is a likely, rather than a possible, phenomenon with a severely degrading bundle. They have also shown that any changes in temperature (substrate or gas), flow rate or atmosphere composition or pressure can lead to the volatilisation or removal of the deposited caesium. Cs was particularly easy to follow given the high activity levels of Cs in the deposit. However further analysis of the deposits shows that other fission products are also subject to revaporisation. In the most recent FPT3 test, the chemical analysis of the filters has enabled examination of other fission products and demonstrated that these can be equally active in such conditions. Further separate effect tests in the EXSI-PC facility at VTT, Espoo have also given further insight as to the chemical reactions that major fission products (e.g. Cs, I) undergo under steam flows. One important result is the significant fraction of iodine that was released and transported in gaseous form at rather low circuit temperatures. In support of the experimental data, ‘ab initio’ theoretical approaches are being used at IRSN to demonstrate the interaction mechanisms of iodine and caesium vapours with typical primary circuit substrates under severe accident conditions. These approaches are expected to help interpret the Phébus FP experiments and VERCORS fission product tests as well as the CEA’s on-going ISTP-VERDON tests under mixed air and steam conditions. The combination of the three different research approaches will enable a much improved understanding of major chemical interactions in the primary circuit and so permit a more accurate simulation of a severe accident in primary circuits of water-cooled reactors with the ASTEC integral code, using improved thermodynamic data in the SOPHEAROS module. This, in turn will help to reduce the uncertainties in the anticipated source term to the environment.JRC.E.2-Safety of Irradiated Nuclear Material