Assessment of Thermal and Hydrodynamic Fragmentation in Molten Fuel Coolant Interaction With Simulant System

In the Safety analysis of Fast Breeder Reactor, assessment of Molten Fuel Coolant Interaction (MFCI) assumes importance for two aspects, namely the characterization of the debris and severity of pressure pulses generation. An attempt has been made to investigate the debris generation characteristics with molten Woods Metal (Alloy of Bi 50% Pb 25% Sn 12.5% & Cd 12.5% & melting point of 346 K) - Water simulant system. Liquid Woods metal and liquid Uranium dioxide physical properties (Density, Surface tension & Kinematic viscosity) are similar. Experimental studies were conducted for various melt temperatures covering non-boiling, convective boiling and film boiling regimes of water, to assess the debris generation resulting from both hydrodynamic and thermal interaction. Woods metal was heated to the desired temperature and poured through a hot funnel having a nozzle of 8 mm release diameter into a water column of height up to 140 cm. Experiments were repeated for different coolant temperature and melt inventory up to 5 kg. The melt entry velocity was determined from video recordings. The debris is analyzed on the basis of interface temperature, Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. It is observed that Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the dominant fragmentation phenomena. Contribution due to coolant boiling resulted in more debris generation in the size less than 4 mm.