Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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A study on transport and plugging of sodium aerosol in leak paths of concrete blocks

  • Sujatha Pavan Narayanam (Environmental Assessment Division, Safety, Quality & Resource Management Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research) ;
  • Soubhadra Sen (Environmental Assessment Division, Safety, Quality & Resource Management Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research) ;
  • Kalpana Kumari (Civil Engineering Group, IGCAR) ;
  • Amit Kumar (Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex) ;
  • Usha Pujala (Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex) ;
  • V. Subramanian (Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex) ;
  • S. Chandrasekharan (Environmental Assessment Division, Safety, Quality & Resource Management Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research) ;
  • R. Preetha (Civil Engineering Group, IGCAR) ;
  • B. Venkatraman (Environmental Assessment Division, Safety, Quality & Resource Management Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research)
  • Received : 2023.04.07
  • Accepted : 2023.09.13
  • Published : 2024.01.25
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Abstract

In the event of a severe accident in Sodium Cooled Fast Reactors (SFR), the sodium combustion aerosols along with fission product aerosols would migrate to the environment through leak paths of the Reactor Containment Building (RCB) concrete wall under positive pressure. Understanding the characteristics of sodium aerosol transport through concrete leak paths is important as it governs the environmental source term. In this context, experiments are conducted to study the influence of various parameters like pressure, initial mass concentration, leak path diameter, humidity etc., on the transport and deposition of sodium aerosols in straight leak paths of concrete. The leak paths in concrete specimens are prepared by casting and the diameter of the leak path is measured using thermography technique. Aerosol transport experiments are conducted to measure the transported and plugged aerosol mass in the leak paths and corresponding plugging times. The values of differential pressure, aerosol concentration and relative humidity taken for the study are in the ranges 10-15 kPa, 0.65-3.04 g/m3 and 30-90% respectively. These observations are numerically simulated using 1-Dimensional transport equation. The simulated values are compared with the experimental results and reasonable agreement among them is observed. From the safety assessment view of reactor, the approach presented here is conservative as it is with straight leak paths.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge Dr. Sharat D, SO/D and Menaka, Head, RAMS, RESD for measurement of leak path diameter in concrete sample using thermography. The authors sincerely acknowledge Dr. C.V. Srinivas, Head, EAD for useful scientific discussions which helped in the improvement of the manuscript.

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