Title: Transient behaviour of 4.8 g/cc silicide fuel-(I) abnormal withdrawal of control rod during a start-up of JMTR

Authors: Kazuaki Yanagisawa

Addresses: Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), 1233 Watanuki, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292, Japan

Abstract: The Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR) loaded the 4.8 g/cc silicide fuel for the core conversion from the high to the low enrichment (<20 wt%). In the experiment, the reactivity insertion of 0.35%Δk/k/s caused by the abnormal withdrawal of the control rod at the start-up of the JMTR was assumed. The value was about twice the EUREKA-2 computer code used for licensing. As a result, the test specimen (4.8 g/cc silicide fuel) had the peak cladding surface temperature of 137 ± 3°C. The test specimen did not fail by quench mechanism because the time to quench (tq) was 0.11 s and the temperature drop ΔT was 28°C. Usually the quench failure occurs at the rapid tq (<0.13 s) and the high ΔT (>94°C). The safety margin of the JMTR against the accident induced by the abnormal withdrawal of control rod was assured.

Keywords: transient behaviour; silicide fuel; abnormal withdrawal; control rods; JMTR; Japan Materials Testing Reactor; quench failure; temperature drop; time to quench; departure from nucleate boiling; DNB; EUREKA-2; nuclear reactors; nuclear energy; nuclear power.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2011.039248

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2011 Vol.6 No.1, pp.55 - 63

Published online: 14 Feb 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article