scholarly journals Synthesis, characterisation and preliminary corrosion behaviour assessment of simulant Fukushima nuclear accident fuel debris

MRS Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Clémence Gausse ◽  
Calum W. Dunlop ◽  
Aidan A. Friskney ◽  
Martin C. Stennett ◽  
Neil C. Hyatt ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTNuclear fuel debris generated at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant during the loss of coolant accident in 2011, still resides within the reactor units, constantly cooled by water. Until it is retrieved, the fuel debris will corrode, releasing radioactive elements into the coolant water and the ground surrounding the reactors. To predict the corrosion behaviour of these materials, and to establish parameters for experiments with U-containing and real fuel debris, the corrosion of two surrogate fuel debris materials, with a composition of Ce(1-x)ZrxO2 (x = 0.2 and 0.4), was investigated. Materials were synthesised by a wet chemistry route and pellets were sintered at 1700°C in air atmosphere. Due to the slow corrosion kinetics, aggressive conditions were applied, and corrosion experiments were performed in 9 mol.L-1 HNO3 under static conditions. The incorporation of Zr into the structure of Ce reduced the normalised dissolution rate; from (3.75 ± 0.15) × 10-6 g.m-2.d-1 to (4.96 ± 0.28) × 10-6 g.m-2.d-1 for RL(Ce) of Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 and Ce0.6Zr0.4O2, respectively.

Author(s):  
Eltayeb Yousif ◽  
Zhang Zhijian ◽  
Tian Zhao-fei ◽  
A. M. Mustafa

To ensure effective operation of nuclear power plants, it is very important to evaluate different accident scenarios in actual plant conditions with different codes. In the field of nuclear safety, Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) is one of the main accidents. RELAP-MV Visualized Modularization software technology is recognized as one of the best estimated transient simulation programs of light water reactors, and also has the options for improved modeling methods, advanced programming, computational simulation techniques and integrated graphics displays. In this study, transient analysis of the primary system variation of thermo-hydraulics parameters in primary loop under SB-LOCA accident in AP1000 nuclear power plant (NPP) is carried out by Relap5-MV thermo-hydraulics code. While focusing on LOCA analysis in this study, effort was also made to test the effectiveness of the RELAP5-MV software already developed. The accuracy and reliability of RELAP5-MV have been successfully confirmed by simulating LOCA. The calculation was performed up to a transient time of 4,500.0s. RELAP5-MV is able to simulate a nuclear power system accurately and reliably using this modular modeling method. The results obtained from RELAP5 and RELAP5-MV are in agreement as they are based on the same models though in comparison with RELAP5, RELAP5-MV makes simulation of nuclear power systems easier and convenient for users most especially for the beginners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Petr Červenka ◽  
Jakub Krejčí ◽  
Ladislav Cvrček ◽  
Vojtěch Rozkošný ◽  
František Manoch ◽  
...  

To enhance the safety of nuclear power, the focus of researchers all around the world has recently mainly objected on the development of Accident Tolerant Fuels. Especially the Chromium coating of current Zirconium based cladding has been widely suggested and discussed for its immense positive effect on overall cladding properties. Nevertheless, it was observed that during the first stage of the Loss of Coolant Accident, cracks appear in the Cr coating due to its inability to tolerate higher plastic strain. Therefore, experimental methodology used in this article focuses on testing fuel cladding with damaged Cr coating after the high-temperature transient. The impact of cracks on degradation of cladding mechanical properties was observed using optical microscopy, ring compression test, microhardness, and evaluating hydrogen content and weight gain.


1977 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 650-656
Author(s):  
V. E. Schrock ◽  
G. J. Trezek ◽  
L. R. Keilman

Spray ponds have become an attractive method of providing the “ultimate heat sink”, i.e., the assured means of dissipating heat from a nuclear power plant. Two redundant spray ponds were the choice for this service in the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station owned by Sacramento Municipal Utility District. This paper describes the results of full scale field tests of the Rancho Seco ponds which were conducted to verify the thermal performance, drift loss characteristics, and the capability to sustain the cooling requirements for a period of 30 days following a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). Correlations of local and average nozzle efficiency and of the drift loss are presented. A computer code was developed for the transient thermal performance of the pond. After verification the code was used to predict performance following LOCA under adverse meteorological conditions based on weather records.


2015 ◽  
Vol 285 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asko Arkoma ◽  
Markku Hänninen ◽  
Karin Rantamäki ◽  
Joona Kurki ◽  
Anitta Hämäläinen

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