Liquid jet breakup characterization with application to melt-water mixing

摘要

Severe accidents in light-water reactors could lead to the flow of molten core material from the initial core region of the reactor vessel to the lower plenum. Steam explosions have been predicted to occur as a result of the contact of the melt with water available in the plenum. It is presently judged by many workers, that the magnitude of the energy released during such an in-vessel explosion would be insufficient to lead to failure of the containment building (SERG, 1985). A major contributing factor in this judgment is that the mass of melt which would participate in the interaction would be limited by the quantity of melt delivered to the lower plenum to the time of the explosion and by the limited breakup of the molten pour stream as it flows through the plenum prior to the explosion. Limited pour stream breakup would lead to limited melt-water mixing and, in addition, to the existence of ''large-scale'' melt masses which may lead to very inefficient thermal-to-mechanical energy conversion. The objective of this paper is to assess the available literature relevant to liquid jet breakup and to assess its implications with respect to the behavior of molten corium pour streams as they would flow from the core region through the lower plenum. Uncertainties in application of the available literature are discussed. 7 refs., 2 figs.