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A Study of Prediction Model Improvement for Air-Oxidation Breakaway in a Postulated Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Complete Loss of Coolant Accident

Author

Listed:
  • Sanggil Park

    (Nuclear Energy Team, Lee & Ko, Seoul 04532, Korea)

  • Jaeyoung Lee

    (School of Mechanical and Control Engineering, Handong Global University, Pohang 37554, Korea)

  • Min Bum Park

    (Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, Korea)

Abstract

The temperature of zirconium alloy cladding on the postulated spent nuclear fuel pool complete loss of coolant accident is abruptly increased at a certain time and the cladding is almost fully oxidized to weak ZrO 2 in the air. This abrupt temperature escalation phenomenon induced by the air-oxidation breakaway is called a zirconium fire. Although an air-oxidation breakaway kinetic model correlated between time and temperature has been implemented in the MELCOR code, it is likely to bring about unexpected large errors because of many limitations of model derivation. This study suggests an improved time–temperature correlated kinetic model using the Johnson–Mehl equation. It is based on that the air-oxidation breakaway is initiated by the phase transformation from the tetragonal to monoclinic ZrO 2 at the oxide–metal interface in the cladding. This new model equation is also evaluated with the Zry-4 air-oxidation literature data. This equation resulted in the almost similar air-oxidation breakaway timing to the actual experimental data at 800 °C. However, at 1000 °C, it showed an error of about 8 min. This could be inferred from the influence of the ZrN phase change due to the nitrogen existing in air.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanggil Park & Jaeyoung Lee & Min Bum Park, 2021. "A Study of Prediction Model Improvement for Air-Oxidation Breakaway in a Postulated Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Complete Loss of Coolant Accident," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-7, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1442-:d:489721
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sanggil Park & Min Bum Park, 2019. "The Limitations of an Air-Oxidation Breakaway Model to Predict a Zirconium Fire in a Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Accident," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-8, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ratiko Ratiko & Raden Sumarbagiono & Aisyah Aisyah & Wati Wati & Kuat Heriyanto & Mirawaty Mirawaty & Pungky Ayu Artiani & Yuli Purwanto & Dwi Luhur Ibnu Saputra & Jaka Rachmadetin & Risdiyana Setiawa, 2022. "Theoretical and Experimental Analysis on Influence of Natural Airflow on Spent Fuel Heat Removal in Dry Cask Storage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-15, February.

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