Radiative heat transfer to high pressure steam

Experiments that examine the effectiveness of cooling nuclear reactor fuel bundles with high-pressure steam have been performed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The bundle uncovery tests have been used to determine the fuel pin surface temperatures during steady-state steam cooling. Using these temperature profiles, a sectored-pin model has been used to calculate the quantity of radiative heat absorbed by the steam, the shroud walls, and the water rods. Using a simplified version of this model, which may be better suited for thermal-hydraulic codes, average radiative heat transfer coefficients for the ORNL bundle have been calculated. 10 refs