ASTEC V1.3 Code Assessment on the STORM Aerosols Mechanical REsuspension Test (A Fission Product Transport Study)

The European severe accident analysis code ASTEC is assessed on the most representative STORM tests. Two aerosol resuspension modules are used to calculate the resuspended fraction of aerosols deposited in the primary circuit model of STORM facility. It was concluded thta concerning the final mass fraction and mainly the kinetics of aerosol resuspension in turbulent pipe flow conditions there is a need for further code assesment and for improvement of resuspension models implemented in the current version of SOP"HAEROS/ASTEC V1.3 code. This is under way in the Source Term area of the SARNET project.JRC.F.4-Nuclear design safet

CIRCUIT AND CONTAINMENT ASPECTS OF PHÉBUS EXPERIMENTS FPT0 AND FPT1

The Phebus FP severe accident experiments FPT0 and FPT1 were performed at Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN, Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute) Cadarache (France) in 1993 and 1996 respectively. In each test a 1 m long bundle of fuel rods plus a silver indium cadmium control rod was heated to an advanced state of degradation in the Phebus reactor, and the materials released were swept by an injected steam flow through a model circuit and into a miniature containment vessel. Test FPT0 used fresh fuel, while in FPT1 the fuel had a burnup of 23 GWd/tonne. In an international effort coordinated by the European Commission Joint Research Centre and IRSN intensive analytical study of data from the circuit and containment was performed using a variety of models and computer codes, seeking to reconcile the wide variety and copious quantity of online and post-test data available and to draw conclusions. The present consolidation report makes a critical survey of the degree of success achieved and draws conclusions as to where understanding can be considered good and where it appears necessary to perform further analytical work, factoring in both findings from other tests of the Phebus FP series and from other experimental programmes.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen

The European research on severe accidents in generation-II and III nuclear power plants.

Forty-three organisations from 22 countries network their capacities of research in SARNET (Severe Accident Research NETwork of excellence) to resolve the most important remaining uncertainties and safety issues on severe accidents in existing and future water-cooled nuclear power plants (NPP). After a first project in the 6th Framework Programme (FP6) of the European Commission, the SARNET2 project, coordinated by IRSN, started in April 2009 for 4 years in the FP7 frame. After 2,5 years, some main outcomes of joint research (modelling and experiments) by the network members on the highest priority issues are presented: in-vessel degraded core coolability, molten-corium-concrete-interaction, containment phenomena (water spray, hydrogen combustion…), source term issues (mainly iodine behaviour). The ASTEC integral computer code, jointly developed by IRSN and GRS to predict the NPP SA behaviour, capitalizes in terms of models the knowledge produced in the network: a few validation results are presented. For dissemination of knowledge, an educational 1-week course was organized for young researchers or students in January 2011, and a two-day course is planned mid-2012 for senior staff. Mobility of young researchers or students between the European partners is being promoted. The ERMSAR conference is becoming the major worldwide conference on SA research

European Approach for a Perennial Storage of Severe Accident Research Experimental Data as Resulting from EU Projects like SARNET, Phébus FP and ISTP

During the last decades, the European Commission has sponsored a large number of experimental research programmes on Severe Accidents in nuclear light water reactors. Typical examples of these programmes are the Phébus Fission Product and its follow-up ISTP programmes. Since more than four years an EC network of excellence called SARNET has integrated national/international research efforts in the same field of activity with a.o. one final goal of the controlled dissemination and perennial storage of SA experimental data.JRC.DDG.F.5-Safety of present nuclear reactor

European approach for a Perennial Storage of Severe Accident Research Experimental Data as Resulting from EU Projects like SARNET, PHÉBUS FP and ISTP

In the fleet of European nuclear power plants, with a very low probability circumstances, severe accident sequences may result in core melting and plant damage leading to dispersal of radioactive material into the environment and thus constituting a health hazard to the public well beyond the borders of the State where the damaged plant is located. It is therefore crucial that the best state of knowledge on severe accident phenomenology, qualified computer tools and appropriate methodology should be used uniformly throughout Europe, in order to evaluate the corresponding risks and update former evaluations, taking into account notably the inevitable evolutions in reactor operations.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen

The objectives of the Phébus FP experimental programme and main findings

Since the very beginning, the Phébus FP programme of integral experiments was considered as a necessary complement to the qualification “one by one” of physical models through analytical experiments, which has the disadvantage of introducing hypotheses e.g. on the additivity of phenomena and do not allow to be sure that no important phenomenon has been omitted. Also the physico-chemical nature of a number of species can best be determined in integral type of experiments. For all those purposes, a series of five in-pile integral experiments has been performed. The facility provided prototypic reactor conditions which allowed the study of basic phenomena governing core degradation through to the late phase (melt pool formation), hydrogen production, fission product (FP) release and transport, circuit and containment phenomena, and iodine chemistry. For each of these topics, key lessons have been learnt and are described. Amongst the most important, one can cite: The need to revisit cladding oxidation modelling, that impacts the hydrogen production kinetics, The fuel collapse (transition from rod-like geometry towards a molten pool) at temperatures far below what was expected, The fission product release from degrading fuel, The chemical form of fission products when transported in the Reactor Coolant System, especially for iodine and caesium, most important radionuclides, The in-containment behaviour of iodine especially the reactions between iodine and paints and the trapping of iodine by silver under certain conditions. From these findings, the physical models implemented in simulation tools used for safety studies have been improved. However integral experiments such as Phébus FP have often the disadvantage not to allow an accurate enough determination of the values of the parameters of physical models. IRSN and partners therefore decided to launch new separate-effect experiments in order to address remaining uncertainties.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen

An Evaluation of Ultraligth Aircraft Capability for Remote Sensing Applications in West Africa

Abstract not availableNA-NOT AVAILABL

Microlight Aircraft for Radiometric Surveying Applied to Land Resources Assessment and Monitoring in Mali (West Africa)

A MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT HAS BEEN USED TO OBTAIN AND RECORD CONCURRENT, NEAR CONTINUOUS, SPECTRAL RESPONSES IN MSS AND SPOT BANDS OVER VARIOUS GROUND FEATURES: WATER BODIES, GEOMORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES, AQUATIC VEGETATION AND STUBBLES. THE EXPERIMENT WAS PERFORMED IN MALI, ALONG THE NIGER RIVER, DURING NOVEMBER 1985. THE AIRBORNE INSTRUMENTATION, DEVELOPED AS A PROTOTYPE FOR THIS EXPERIMENT, ALSO INCLUDED FLYING HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS BY A LASER RANGE-FINDER AND A COLOUR VIDEO-CAMERA. SPECTRAL DATA AND FLYING HEIGHT (5 TO 80 METERS) WERE SCANNED EVERY 0.1 SEC. AND RECORDED ON THE AUDIO CHANNEL OF A VIDEOTAPE, AFTER MULTIPLEXING AND ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL CONVERSION (8 CHANNELS). CONCLUSION: - THE MEASURING AND RECORDING SYSTEM, ALTHOUGH LIGHT AND SIMPLE, PROVED TO BE VERY EFFICIENT FOR AUTOMATIC SURVEY IN A TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT. - SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE PROFILES ARE FESSIBLE IN A VERY SHORT TIME (SOME MINU- TES) OVER A WIDE RANGE OF OBJECTS, ALLOWING HOMOGENEOUS INCOMING LIGHT CONDI- TIONS. - HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS CAN PROVIDE VERY USEFULL INFORMATION FOR THE GEOMETRIC DESCRIPTION OF THE VEGETATION COVER. - MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT IS PROVING TO BE HIGHLY SUITABLE AS A PLATFORM FOR LOW- COST AERIAL SURVEY, COMPLEMENTARY TO CONVENTIONAL METHODS. - LARGE SCALE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY IS ONE OF THE POTENTIALITIES OF MICROLIGHT AIRCRAFT: AN EXPERIMENTAL CAMPAGN ACCORDING TO AFRICAN ENVIRONMENT, IS PLANNED FOR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1986 IN MALINA-NOT AVAILABL

Examination of Thermal Detonation Codes and Included Fragmentation Models by Means of Triggered Propagation Experiments in a Tin/Water Mixture

Abstract not availableNA-NOT AVAILABL