Quench front progression in a superheated porous medium: experimental analysis and model development

International audienceIn case of accident at a nuclear power plant, water sources may not be available for a long period of time and the core heats up due to the residual power. Any attempt to inject water during core degradation can lead to quenching and further fragmentation of core material. The fragmentation of fuel rods and melting of reactor core materials may result in the formation of a "debris bed". The typical particle size in a debris bed might reach few millimeters (characteristic length-scale: 1-5 mm). The two-phase flow model for reflood of the degraded core is briefly introduced in this paper. It is implemented into the ICARE-CATHARE code, developed by IRSN (Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire), to study severe accident scenarios in pressurized water reactors. Currently, the French IRSN sets up two experimental facilities to study debris bed reflooding, PEARL and PRELUDE, and validate safety models. The PRELUDE program studies the complex two phase flow (water/steam), in a porous medium (diameter 180 mm, height 200 mm), initially heated to a high temperature (400 °C or 700 °C). On the basis of the experimental results, thermal hydraulic features at the quench front have been analyzed. The two-phase flow model shows a good agreement with PRELUDE experimental results