In-Core Fuel Freezing and Plugging Experiments: Preliminary Results of the Sandia TRAN Series I Experiments.

摘要

Described in this report is a new experimental apparatus (the 'TRAN' apparatus) in which a pulsed nuclear reactor (the Sandia Annular Core Research Reactor) is used to melt the reactor materials rapidly. After the melt is formed, it is forced under moderate pressure into a 'freezing' channel that has a geometry representative of the LMFBR fuel pin structure. The flow and freezing behavior of the pure reactor materials is then inferred from the final distribution of the frozen materials, as well as from the transient behavior of the driving pressure.