Experimental study on thermo-chemical behavior of PHWR fuel channel under slumped fuel pin condition

Abstract The safe operation of the reactor is compromised under postulated accident events. The events may originate from single or multiple failures. LOCA, along with the unavailability of ECCS, is one such multiple failure event. Phenomena like fuel heat up, fuel slumping, clad oxidation, hydrogen generation and fission product release are about to take place. However, moderator cooling to the external surface of fuel channels limits the fuel heat up. The steam starvation in the channel limits hydrogen generation. The purpose of this study is to analyze the thermo-chemical behavior of a fuel channel of PHWR, assuming that the 37 fuel elements of a bundle are collapsed and collected in a tightly packed stack at the bottom of the pressure tube of the fuel channel. The temperature distribution is obtained under a pseudo-steady-state for the various components of the simulated fuel channel exposed to an oxidative environment. Experimental results have indicated that a significant temperature gradient gets established in radial, circumferential and axial directions in the fuel channel due to slumped fuel bundle configuration as well as hydrogen generation. Estimation from the heat balance studies shows that moderator functions as an active heat sink.