CODEX-CT-1 experiment: Quenching of fuel bundle after long term oxidation in hydrogen rich steam KFKI-2008-01/G

Hózer, Zoltán and Windberg, P. and Nagy, I. and Matus, L. and Vér, N. and Kunstár, M. and Vimi, A. and Novotny, T. and Perez-Feró, E. and Horváth, M. and Pintér, A. and Balaskó, Márton (2008) CODEX-CT-1 experiment: Quenching of fuel bundle after long term oxidation in hydrogen rich steam KFKI-2008-01/G. Documentation. Hungarian Academy of Sciences KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute, Budapest. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The cleaning tank incident at the unit 2 of Paks NPP in 2003 resulted in severe fuel damage of 30 assemblies. The fuel rods heated up due to insufficient cooling and the zirconium components suffered heavy oxidation. Opening of the tank and quenching of the assemblies by cold water led to fragmentation of brittle zirconium components. Due to the poor instrumentation there were many open questions concerning the course of the incident and the behaviour of fuel assemblies. In order to improve the understanding of the phenomena that took place during the Paks-2 incident integral tests have been carried out in the CODEX (Core Degradation Experiment) facility. The tests simulated the whole scenario of the incident using electrically heated fuel rods. The final state of the fuel rods showed many similarities with the conditions observed after the incident at the NPP and for this reason it is very probable that the thermal conditions and chemical reactions were also similar in the tests and in the incident. The post-test examination of CODEX-CT-1 bundle indicated that the high degree of embrittlement was a common result of oxidation and hydrogen uptake by the Zr components.

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