Integrated Chemical Effects Head Loss Experiments Using Multiconstituent Fibrous Debris Beds

The chemical head loss experiment (CHLE) program has been designed to acquire realistic material release and product formation in containment under post-loss of coolant accident (LOCA) conditions and their impact on the measured head loss through the use of modified debris beds developed at the University of New Mexico (UNM). A full-scale water chemistry test was conducted under Vogtle containment chemistry conditions to determine the release of these materials and the resulting head loss response of the formed products within the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) under prototypical chemical conditions. The test was designed to investigate material corrosion with the presence of excess aluminum and a nonprototypical temperature profile (80 °C for 120 h) to promote the production of aluminum precipitates. The head loss measured within the first 72 h of the test either surpassed the operational limits of the equipment or caused a failure within the system. The increase in head loss is not attributed to the formation of in situ precipitates but to a physical reaction of the epoxy used in constructing the debris beds to the local chemistry during the early stages of the test.