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Home   /   Post Doctorat   /   Experimental and Thermodynamic Modeling of Corium Phases Formed During Severe Nuclear Accidents (24 months)

Experimental and Thermodynamic Modeling of Corium Phases Formed During Severe Nuclear Accidents (24 months)

Condensed matter physics, chemistry & nanosciences Engineering sciences Instrumentation Ultra-divided matter, Physical sciences for materials

Abstract

During severe accidents in pressurized water reactors, uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel reacts with zirconium alloy cladding and the steel vessel, forming a mixture of liquid and solid phases known as "in-vessel corium". If the vessel ruptures, this corium interacts with the concrete raft, forming "ex-vessel corium". This phenomenon occurred in the Chernobyl and Fukushima severe accidents. To simulate these stages, multi-physics codes require accurate thermodynamic and thermophysical data for the various phases of corium. This project aims to fill the data gap through experimental measurements and modeling. The work will involve synthesizing samples, measuring liquidus/solidus temperatures and liquid phase densities, and characterizing samples using advanced techniques. Moreover, the laser heating setup combined with aerodynamic levitation (ATTILHA) used to acquire data will be improved. Experimental results will be compared with thermodynamic models (TAF-ID database), and discrepancies will be resolved using the CALPHAD method. Thermophysical data will also be validated using atomistic simulations and other measurement techniques.

Laboratory

Département de Recherche sur les Matériaux et la Physico-chimie pour les énergies bas carbone
Service de recherche en Corrosion et Comportement des Matériaux
Laboratoire de Modélisation, Thermodynamique et Thermochimie
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