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International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering Volume 4 Issue 1, March 2014
doi: 10.14355/ijnese.2014.0401.03

Quenching Behaviour of Top Flooded Molten

Pool
P. P. Kulkarni*, A. K. Nayak
Reactor Engineering Divison, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
Trombay, Mumbai, India
parimalk@barc.gov.in, arunths@barc.gov.in
Abstract
During a severe accident in a nuclear reactor, the core can
melt and the melt can be relocated into the lower head
forming a melt pool. If the vessel fails, the molten corium
can be relocated in the containment cavity forming a melt
pool. Such a pool or bed, if not quenched in time, may
interact with the concrete basement of the cavity causing its
ablation resulting in generation of non-condensable gases
and water vapor, which poses a threat of containment
pressurization, explosion and ground contamination. In
order to devise the strategy to retard the progression of
severe accidents in stipulated time, understanding of the
corium coolability is very much essential. Coolability of
molten corium in such ex-vessel condition is limited
depending on depth of water ingression. But the question
arises about to what extent the water will ingress? Thermal
and physical properties of corium change drastically with
increase in concrete percentage which strongly affects the
coolability. The phenomenon of corium coolability is not
fully understood owing to its complexity involving multi
phase multi component heat and mass transfer. In order to
better understand the phenomenon, experiments at present
are the only answer; since modeling the complex
phenomenon is still difficult.
In order to gain some insights into melt coolability, the
authors have carried out an experiment on quenching
behavior of top flooded molten pool. A simulant material
(sodium borosilicate glass) of about 25 liters at temperature
1200 oC was poured into the test section and was flooded
from top with water. The transient temperature of the
molten pool was measured. The experiment highlighted that,
under adiabatic conditions, water ingression occurred only
upto 10 mm depth, below which a stable solid crust was
formed which limited the heat transfer. Also, no gap
between crust and vessel was formed.
Keywords
Severe Accident; Melt Pool Coolability

Introduction
In a severe core damage accident, large number of
channels may melt and form a molten mass. In vessel
type reactors, this mass can be relocated at the lower

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head of the vessel keeping the pressure boundary

intact, giving rise to an in-vessel scenario. In the
absence of sufficient cooling, the vessel will fail due to
large thermal gradient and the melt will come out of
the vessel and form a pool in the cavity on the base
material. The easiest way to deal with ex-vessel
scenario is to flood the melt pool with large quantity of
water. Although this scheme is the simplest, the
mechanism is much more complex involving multicomponent, multiphase heat, mass and momentum
transfer associated with wide variation of thermal and
mechanical properties of materials with temperature.
In order to ensure complete coolability, much more
knowledge about the phenomena occurring is needed.
In the past, lot of research has been carried out on melt
coolability under top flooding. In the MACE
experimental programme (Sehgal and Spencer, 1992) it
was observed that, a tough crust was formed at the top,
limiting access of the water into the melt pool. In
COTELS project (Nagasaka et al, 1999) it was shown
that water ingression through cracks in crust
interacting with concrete can contribute to coolability.
In MACE M3b tests (Farmer and Spencer, 2001) it was
observed that crust has anchored to side walls limiting
the heat transfer to water pool lying below. In
COMECO tests (Nayak and Sehgal, 2005) simulant
materials showed water ingression up to 10 cm depth
below which, it was not able to cool the melt pool.
Recently Lomperski and Farmer (2007) showed that at
low concrete concentration, water ingression is dominant.
Nayak et al (2009) explained the mechanism of water
ingression into the melt pool when flooded from top
and Kulkarni et al (2011) brought out the physics of
water ingression in molten pool and explored the
effect of molten core concrete interaction on water
ingression.
In these experiments, a wide variety of stimulants
have been used which mainly contain ceramic oxides
like Al2O3, CaO-B2O3, TiO2, MnO2 etc. It has been
seen that, water ingression greatly depends upon the

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering Volume 4 Issue 1, March 2014

material used. In our previous paper (Kulkarni et al,

2011) we had brought out how a dimensionless
parameter E/ affects the water ingression into the
material. In order to validate the material dependence
of water ingression model and to check the water
ingression behavior in glass type material, an
experiment on melt coolability was carried out using
Sodium Boro-Silicate Glass as a stimulant material. In
nuclear reactors, the concrete basemat contains silica
aggregates. After the molten corium reacts with
concrete, it may form a glass type mixture. In this
context, it is necessary to study the coolability
behaviour of glass type mixtures. In this paper, the
experimental results of melt coolability of glass under
top flooding condition have been presented.

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thermocouples arranged in 7 axial and 3 radial

positions as shown in Fig. 2 were used. In addition,
inlet water temperatures, temperatures of water pool
as well as outgoing steam were also measured by
thermocouples in the upper part of test section. The
test section was insulated in lower part using ceramic
wool. The assembled test setup is shown in Fig. 3.

Details of Experiment
Experimental Setup
The experiment was carried out as per the setup
shown in Fig. 1. The test section consists of a 300 mm
OD carbon steel pipe with 600 mm height. The
capacity of test section is about 25 liters corresponding
to melt height of 500 mm. The upper part of test
section can contain water pool up to 700 mm height.
Steam outlet and water inlet have been provided in the
upper part of the test section. Temperature inside the
melt pool was measured at different locations.
Thermocouples were inserted in the test section
through a 10 mm inconel tube. Total 21 K type

FIG. 2 THERMOCOUPLE ARRANGEMENT INSIDE

THE TEST SECTION

FIG. 1 SCHEMATIC OF THE EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

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International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering Volume 4 Issue 1, March 2014

Pouring was started after 8 minutes. It took about 5

minutes to pour. After pouring was finished,
immediately water supply was started. The melt
height was about 390 mm. As soon as the water fell on
the melt, it formed steam and a steam jet was observed.
Thermocouples near surface showed dip in the
temperature. However, within a short span of time,
steam formation was suppressed (Fig. 4).

Steam flow rate (kg/s)

0.005
0.004
0.003
0.002
0.001
0.000
FIG. 3 ASSEMBLED TEST SECTION

TABLE 1 PROPERTIES OF GLASS

Sodium borosilicate
600 OC
2200 kg/m3
1.1 W/mK
750 J/kg K

Results and Discussions

In this experiment, decay heat was not simulated.

FIG. 4 MEASURED STEAM FLOW RATE

The level gauge showed continuous rise (Fig. 5).

Within half an hour, the level reached 450 mm mark.
The water supply was stopped at the time and the
melt was allowed to cool till room temperature.
500
400
Level mm Water

Sodium borosilicate glass was firstly melted in a cold

crucible induction furnace. The properties of the glass
are shown in Table 1. On account of relatively poor
electrical conductivity, induction melting of glass
requires high frequency for efficient heating. For this,
a 200 kHz, 350 kW induction furnace was chosen. The
glass was melted and the melt temperature was raised
up to 1200 oC. The experimental setup was placed
below the furnace and the melt was delivered in the
test section by opening a solenoid valve below the
furnace. About 20 litres of melt at 1200 oC was poured
in the test section. After pouring was completed, the
top flap of the test section was remotely closed which
contained automatic sealing arrangement. After the
flap was closed, water supply at the rate of 1 lpm was
started using a peristaltic pump from a storage tank.
Water supply kept on till the level gauge showed
100 % (450 mmWC). The transient temperature history
inside the melt was recorded till the entire melt
reached room temperature.

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Time (hrs)

Experimental Procedure

Type
Melting temperature
Density
Thermal conductivity
Specific heat capacity

Level

300
200
100
0
0

Time (hrs)
FIG. 5 LEVEL OF WATER POOL

The measured temperatures near wall are given in Fig.

6-7. From Fig. 7, it can be observed that as soon as
water supply was started, Top thermocouples T1 and
T2 immediately reached water saturation temperature
indicating onset of flooding. Thermocouples T3-T7
were inside the melt and showed very slow decrease
in temperature indicating conduction dominated region.
Although, the decrease in temperature indicated by
thermocouple T3 shows different slope and is cooled

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering Volume 4 Issue 1, March 2014

relatively fast, which indictes that water ingression has

taken place at the top of the crust. It took almost six
1200

T1 (460 mm)
T2 (410 mm)
T3 (310 mm)
T4 (210 mm)
T5 (160 mm)
T6 (60 mm)
T7 (10 mm)

T (OC)

800
600

200

200

Pouring started
(8 min)

12

24

Time (hrs)

Centre

800
600
400

400

T1 (460 mm)
T2 (410 mm)
T3 (310 mm)
T6 (60 mm)
T7 (10 mm)

600

200

Distance from bottom

800

200

Time (hrs)

480 s

Time (hrs)

FIG. 8 TEMPERATURE IN CENTRAL REGION

0s

60

Half radius

1000
Temperature (OC)

Temperature (OC)

1200

T1 (460 mm)
T2 (410 mm)
T3 (310 mm)
T4 (210 mm)
T6 (60 mm)
T7 (10 mm)

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FIG. 7 TEMPERATURE HISTORY WITHIN ONE HOUR

Distance from bottom

1000

36

Time (min)

FIG. 6 MEASURED TEMPERATURE NEAR WALL

1200

T1 (460 m
T2 (410 m
T3 (310 m
T4 (210 m
T5 (160 m
T6 (60 mm
T7 (10 mm

600
400

Near Wall

800

400

Flooding started
(13 min)

1000

T (OC)

1000

hours to cool the melt even though the melt was

flooded with water pool of about half a meter height.
1200

Distance from bottom

Near Wall

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FIG. 9 TEMPERATURES IN HALF RADIUS REGION

30 s

60 s

70 s

120 s

180 s

780 s

1380 s

3180 s

6780 s

10380 s

0.125
FIG. 10 TEMPERATURE CONTOURS AT DIFFERENT TIMES INSIDE THE MELT

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International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering Volume 4 Issue 1, March 2014

The temperature history in central region and half

radius region is given in Figs 8-9. It was observed that,
temperatures in both these regions showed similar
trend. Using these temperatures, contours of temperatures were plotted in 2-D axi-symmetrical geometry.
Fig. 10 shows the experimental contours at different
times.
In Fig. 10, the timings are shown after the pouring has
been completed. The melt surface is clearly indicated
by yellow colored contour which is at 390 mm level.
Water is added after 60 s. It can be seen that, when
water is added, within 60 s (at 120 s), the yellow
contour drops down by about 10 mm as a result of
water ingression. Thereafter, the cooling takes place
slowly because of conduction. Heat loss took place
from one side at the bottom right corner as well as
from entire bottom showing faster temperature drop
as compared to the centre portion of the test section.

glass and the size distribution of the debris material.

From Fig. 11, it can be seen that, the top surface of the
crust has fractured and formed a debris bed. This
validates our postulation of water ingression
phenomena (Nayak et al, 2009). The encircled part
shows the site where water ingression occurs. It was
observed that water ingression has occurred up to a
depth of 10 mm from surface. The size of debris
ranged from 0.5 mm to 10 mm.
Conclusion
An experiment to study the melt coolability of molten
pool was carried out wherein a simulant material
(sodium borosilicate glass) of about 20 liters at a
temperature 1200 oC was poured into the test section
and it was flooded from top with water. It was
expected that a glass like material would break as a
result of thermal gradient because of quenching.
However, a solid glass with a small amount of
fractured debris was observed at the end of
experiment. The experiment highlighted that, under
adiabatic conditions also, water ingression occurred
only upto 10 mm depth, below which a stable solid
crust was formed, which limited the heat transfer.
Also, it was observed that no gap between crust and
vessel was formed which could assist the ingression of
water from sideways to the bottom of the melt to
enhance coolability. It took very long time to cool the
melt which highlights that, top flooding is insufficient
to quench the molten pool in case of severe accidents.
REFERENCES

Farmer, M.T., Spencer, B.W., A review of database

pertaining to ex-vessel debris coolability ACEX-TR-C34,
2001.
Kulkarni, P.P., Singh, R. K. Nayak, A. K. Vijayan, P. K. Saha,
D. Sinha, R. K., Physics of Coolability of Top Flooded
Molten Corium , paper presented in The 14th
International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor
Thermal hydraulics, NURETH-14, paper No 328, Toronto,
Canada, September 2011.
Lomperski, S. Farmer, M.T., Experimental evaluation of the
FIG. 11 FRACTURED SURFACE OF THE GLASS AND SIZE OF
THE PARTICLES FORMING DEBRIS

Post-test Examination
After the experiment was completed, the upper part of
the setup was removed and the solidified glass was
inspected. Fig. 11 shows the fractured surface of the

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water ingression mechanism for corium cooling,

Nuclear Engineering and Design 237 (2007): 905917.
Nagasaka,

H.,

Sakaki,

I.,

Kato,

M,

Vasilyev,

Y.,

Kolodeshnikov, A., Zhdanov, V., COTELS Project (3):

Ex-vessel debris cooling tests OECD Workshop on Exvessel Debris Coolability, Germany, November 1518,

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Engineering Volume 4 Issue 1, March 2014

1999
Nayak, A. K., Sehgal, B. R., Study on water ingression
phenomena in melt pool coolability, 11th International

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