Experiments to Investigate the Effect of Flight Path on Direct Containment Heating (DCH) in the Surtsey Test Facility: The Limited Flight Path (LFP) Tests

摘要

The goal of the Limited Flight Path (LFP) test series was to investigate the effect of reactor subcompartment flight path length on direct containment heating (DCH). The test series consisted of eight experiments with nominal flight path of 1, 2, or 8 m. A thermitically generated mixture of iron, chromium, and alumina simulated the corium melt of a severe reactor accident. After thermite ignition, superheated steam forcibly ejected the molten debris into a 1:10 linear scale model of a dry reactor cavity. The blowdown steam entrained the molten debris and dispersed it into the Surtsey vessel. These experiments indicate that debris may be trapped in reactor subcompartments and thus will not efficiently transfer heat to gas in the upper dome of a containment building. The effect of deentrainment by reactor subcompartments may significantly reduce the peak containment load in a severe reactor accident.