Development and validation of an agglomeration model for CFD simulations of aerosol dispersion in the frame of Fukushima fuel debris retrieval. Issue 6 (3rd June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gélain, Thomas; Porcheron, Emmanuel; Chagnot, Christophe; Doyen, Ioana; Journeau, Christophe; Roulet, Damien
• Is Part Of: Journal of nuclear science and technology. Volume 58:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: 690
• Page End: 703
• Publication Date: 2021-06-03
• Subjects: Fukushima -- fuel debris -- aerosol -- agglomeration -- CFD simulations; Nuclear engineering -- Periodicals; Nuclear physics -- Periodicals; Nuclear energy -- Periodicals; 621.4805
• DOI: 10.1080/00223131.2020.1862717
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-3131

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article is devoted to demonstrate the feasibility of laser cutting technique for the fuel debris retrieval into the Fukushima Daiichi damaged reactors. IRSN is involved in a project led by ONET Technologies, in collaboration with CEA, to evaluate the risk occurred by the dispersion of aerosols emitted by the dismantling operations [4]. During the laser cutting operations of fuel debris in air condition, particles will be produced, inducing a potential risk of dispersion into the environment. Hence, evaluating the fate of these particles after their emission is one of the safety key issues for these dismantling operations. In this objective, IRSN performed CFD simulations of dispersion of particles representative of inactive fuel debris simulants (1)(2)(3)(4). The first numerical results (5) showed a quite good agreement but some improvements were needed to take into account complex particle size distributions (PSD). Consequently, this article proposes an alternative method to better initialize the agglomeration calculation, in order to take account for different kinds of particle size distribution in the CFD simulations and to better evaluate the fate of aerosols produced by the debris cutting in the damaged reactors of Fukushima-Daiichi pedestal.