Publications Details
MELCOR Validation Study on Sodium Pool Fire Model with Comparison to SPHINCS
Laros, James H.; Aoyagi, Mitsuhiro
A sodium pool fire in the containment of a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) plant can occur due to a pipe leak or break. Accumulation of the sodium in a pool would allow the sodium to react with the atmosphere of the containment, such as oxygen, to cause a fire. Sodium fire is important to model because the heat addition and aerosol generation that occur. Any fission products trapped in the leaked sodium coolant may also be released into the containment, which can affect workers and the public if the containment is breached. This paper describes progress of an international collaborative research in SFR sodium fire modeling between the United States and Japan under the framework of the Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group (CNWG). In this collaboration between Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the validation basis for and modeling capabilities of sodium pool fires in MELCOR of SNL and SPHINCS of JAEA are being assessed. Additional model improvements for the sodium pool fire in MELCOR are discussed. The MELCOR results for the sodium pool fire model enhancement in MELCOR agreed well with the JAEA's F7 pool fire experiments and compared closely with SPHINCS.