Attack of fragmented-core debris on concrete in the presence of water. [PWR; BWR]

In the unlikely event that core debris escapes the reactor pressure vessel, the interactions of the debris with concrete, structural materials, and coolant become the driving force for severe accident phenomena. The Ex-Vessel Core Debris Interactions Program at Sandia National Laboratories is an experimental research effort to characterize these interactions and the magnitude of safety-related phenomena such as flammable gas generation, aerosol production, fission product release, and concrete attack. Major areas of study within the program include molten core simultants in contact with concrete, high pressure melt streaming into scaled reactor cavities, the addition of coolant to high-temperature melt/concrete interactions, and the attack of hot, solid core debris on concrete. This paper describes results from the last of these efforts, i.e., hot, but not molten debris attacking concrete.