Hydrodynamics of degraded core cooling

The literature on hydrodynamics of forced convection of particle beds is reviewed and used to assess the characteristics of in-situ cooling of a degraded LWR reactor core under conditions representative of severe accidents. It is found that the pressure head required, for a given rate of liquid water flow, through a totally degraded core is one to two orders of magnitude higher than the case of intact core geometry. To remove decay heat of up to 1-2% of the reactor normal power, even with conservative assumptions, the pressure head is within the capability of the main reactor pumps. However, particles with very small diameter (less than 100 μm) will potentially be swept out by the flow. The sensitivity of the hydraulic characteristics to the allowed coolant temperature rise across the fragmented core is also investigated. (orig.)