Analysis of flow fields, temperatures and ruthenium transport in the test facility
Activity Acronym:
Ruthenium Releases
Authors:
Teemu Kärkelä, Jouni Pyykönen, Ari Auvinen, Joonas Jokiniemi
Abstract:
Ruthenium transport experiments were conducted at VTT during
years 2002-2006. Experiments gave information about ruthenium
behaviour in air ingress accident conditions. This study complements
those experiments with an analysis of the flows and thermal fields in
the test system. Temperature profiles were measured at the walls of
the experimental facility. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
simulations used the measured profiles and provided predictions of
flows and temperatures inside the furnace. Ruthenium transport was
also modelled with CFD
Thermal characterisation of the reactor demonstrated that buoyancy
has a significant role during the cooling after the furnace. A
hypothesis of the dominant role of RuO2 and RuO3 condensation on
reactor walls gave simulation results that are in accordance with
radiotracer measurements of deposition in experiments conducted
with furnace at 1500K. Actually, RuO3 does not condensate, but it
thermal decomposes to RuO2. This does not seem to have effect on
result. Particle formation around the furnace exit could be detected
from the comparison of modelling results with the measured profiles.
In several other experiments ruthenium behaviour is dominated by
other issues. These are related to the complex ruthenium chemistry
that includes various surface reactions. Thermal equilibrium indicates
significant gaseous RuO4 concentration around 1300 K. It seems that
seed particles decreased the catalytic decomposition activity of RuO4
to RuO2 around this temperature pushing the gas concentration
towards the equilibrium, and further give rise to gaseous RuO4
transport to low temperatures. At higher temperature increasing mass
flow rate of RuO2 particles is likely to catalyse (decomposition)
reaction of RuO4 to RuO2