Rapid quenching of molten lithium-aluminum jets in water under loss-of-control-rod-cooling conditions

A series of fifteen tests were performed to investigate the thermal interactions between molten LiAl control rod material and water under conditions prototypic of the loss-of-control-rod-cooling (LCRC) accident scenario. The experimental parameters such as melt mass, stream diameter, melt temperature and flowrate, water depth and water temperature were controlled or varied to agree with analytically determined conditions, thus insuring prototypicality of the experiments and applicability of the results. Experiments were performed in an actual Q-septifoil with web insert; the test section was one meter tall. Natural triggers were investigated in selected tests, to evaluate the self-triggering potential of this system. The self-triggering mechanisms that were investigated were thermal stratification of the water pool, two-phase flow in the water pool, and simultaneous drop of a control rod in parallel channel. Only benign interactions were observed during these tests with some evidence of pressurization in the tests with deepest and hottest water pools. There was no evidence of any explosive interactions in any of the tests, even those with natural triggers. The molten LiAl jets was found to undergo jet breakup and fragmentation; in some cases the debris hung up in the web, in other cases the debris settled into a loose debris bed at the bottom of the septifoil. It is concluded from these tests that molten lithium-aluminum alloy injected into water under conditions prototypic of LCRC conditions will not self-trigger to a steam explosion nor can it be triggered by naturally occurring triggers. The mode of interaction is benign jet breakup and fragmentation, followed by debris solidification. Explosive events did not occur and may not even be possible under these conditions. As a result, the LCRC accident cannot propagate damage and should not be a power-limiting concern in the K-reactor