Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity Analysis
The characterization of molten corium–concrete interaction (MCCI) has increasingly become a cause of concern because, in the case of a severe nuclear accident, the core could meltdown and release radiation into the environment. The objective of this study was to determine the thermochemical impact o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/9/3387 |
| _version_ | 1797504926418468864 |
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| author | Ilyas Khurshid Imran Afgan Yacine Addad |
| author_facet | Ilyas Khurshid Imran Afgan Yacine Addad |
| author_sort | Ilyas Khurshid |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The characterization of molten corium–concrete interaction (MCCI) has increasingly become a cause of concern because, in the case of a severe nuclear accident, the core could meltdown and release radiation into the environment. The objective of this study was to determine the thermochemical impact of metal content in the corium and analyze the effect of corium metal content on ablation depth, corium temperature, its viscosity and surface heat flux, and production of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. The governing heat transfer equations were solved while considering the various thermochemical reactions in the existing numerical code in a comprehensive way. The developed MCCI model in CORQUENCH was validated against the data available in the literature. Our findings showed that the composition of corium, especially its metal content, has a noticeable effect on mitigating or aggravating the ablation depth and nuclear reactor integrity. We observed that during molten corium–concrete interaction, zirconium plays a significant role and its presence can increase the ablation depth exponentially from 18.5 to 139 cm in the investigated case study. It was found that the presence of zirconium in the corium instigated various thermochemical reactions continuously, and thus the injected water, instead of quenching the molten corium, enhances the temperature by facilitating exothermic reactions. Additionally, due to the presence of zirconium, the production of hydrogen and carbon monoxide increases by 45 and 52 times, respectively and the generation of carbon dioxide becomes zero because the zirconium reacts with carbon dioxide continuously, converting it to carbon monoxide. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:11:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a07bbcaffbca42c081fc67e855dbfb40 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:11:21Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-a07bbcaffbca42c081fc67e855dbfb402023-11-23T08:10:31ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-05-01159338710.3390/en15093387Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity AnalysisIlyas Khurshid0Imran Afgan1Yacine Addad2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 12277, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 12277, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Nuclear Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 12277, United Arab EmiratesThe characterization of molten corium–concrete interaction (MCCI) has increasingly become a cause of concern because, in the case of a severe nuclear accident, the core could meltdown and release radiation into the environment. The objective of this study was to determine the thermochemical impact of metal content in the corium and analyze the effect of corium metal content on ablation depth, corium temperature, its viscosity and surface heat flux, and production of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. The governing heat transfer equations were solved while considering the various thermochemical reactions in the existing numerical code in a comprehensive way. The developed MCCI model in CORQUENCH was validated against the data available in the literature. Our findings showed that the composition of corium, especially its metal content, has a noticeable effect on mitigating or aggravating the ablation depth and nuclear reactor integrity. We observed that during molten corium–concrete interaction, zirconium plays a significant role and its presence can increase the ablation depth exponentially from 18.5 to 139 cm in the investigated case study. It was found that the presence of zirconium in the corium instigated various thermochemical reactions continuously, and thus the injected water, instead of quenching the molten corium, enhances the temperature by facilitating exothermic reactions. Additionally, due to the presence of zirconium, the production of hydrogen and carbon monoxide increases by 45 and 52 times, respectively and the generation of carbon dioxide becomes zero because the zirconium reacts with carbon dioxide continuously, converting it to carbon monoxide.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/9/3387molten corium–concrete interactionablation depthmelt/corium metal contentcorium temperaturewater injection |
| spellingShingle | Ilyas Khurshid Imran Afgan Yacine Addad Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity Analysis Energies molten corium–concrete interaction ablation depth melt/corium metal content corium temperature water injection |
| title | Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity Analysis |
| title_full | Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity Analysis |
| title_short | Thermochemical Modeling of Metal Composition and Its Impact on the Molten Corium–Concrete Interaction: New Insights with Sensitivity Analysis |
| title_sort | thermochemical modeling of metal composition and its impact on the molten corium concrete interaction new insights with sensitivity analysis |
| topic | molten corium–concrete interaction ablation depth melt/corium metal content corium temperature water injection |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/9/3387 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ilyaskhurshid thermochemicalmodelingofmetalcompositionanditsimpactonthemoltencoriumconcreteinteractionnewinsightswithsensitivityanalysis AT imranafgan thermochemicalmodelingofmetalcompositionanditsimpactonthemoltencoriumconcreteinteractionnewinsightswithsensitivityanalysis AT yacineaddad thermochemicalmodelingofmetalcompositionanditsimpactonthemoltencoriumconcreteinteractionnewinsightswithsensitivityanalysis |