LIVE - In-Vessel Melt Retention Experimental Platform
The LIVE experimental platform is established to investigate the severe accident phenomena during a core melt accident in Gen- II, GEN-III and Gen-IV nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV). One of the Severe Accident Management (SAM) according to the Defense-in-depth strategy is to guarantee the melt retention inside the reactor vessel by flooding the vessel externally in case of a late-phase corium accident.
The investigated phenomena:
• Different patterns of corium arrival in the lower head;
• Transient behavior of debris meltdown and molten pool progression;
• Effects on combined or separated external cooling and top cooling;
• Heat transfer in a stratified melt pool;
• Influence of pool geometry on the thermos-hydraulic of the molten pool.
Experimental platform
The experimental platform consists of melt preparation, heating supply and cooling system for three experimental facilities: LIVE3D, LIVE2D and LIVE core-catcher. Liquid simulant melt is prepared in a heating furnace, which melts solid particle and purify the liquid melt. By tilting the heating furnace, the melt is poured in one of the test vessel via a pouring spout. The whole system enables the flexibility in various melt pouring modes. Liquid melt can be extracted back to the heating furnace at the end of one experiment. All the test vessels are equipped with volumetrically distributed resistant heating system mimic the internal heat source of the core melt. The test vessels can be cooled with water externally and at the top surface.