Material characterization of the VULCANO corium concrete interaction test with concrete representative of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plants

Abstract

In the framework of JAEA-CEA collaboration, experimental studies have been conducted for estimating the material characteristics of corium debris representative of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear damaged plants. A test has been performed in the VULCANO facility in CEA Cadarache to simulate the concrete corium interaction (CCI) with prototypic corium (using depleted uranium) and concrete of Fukushima Daiichi 1F1 Nuclear Plants. This paper presents the Post Test Analyses on 9 samples representative of the CCI during this test: in the corium pool, in the crusts and at the vertical and horizontal interfaces with the concrete. Analyses have been performed by SEM/EDS, X-Ray Diffraction, complete dissolution and ICP, micro-hardness measurements of the main phases. The pool is very porous, its composition is homogeneous but metallic blocks have been observed at the interfaces. The major phases encountered are uranium rich and zirconium rich oxides forming nodules from micrometers to millimeters size, chromium-iron rich precipitates of several micrometers, metallic Fe–Ni droplets and chromium-silicon rich filaments in a matrix, likely vitreous, rich in concrete elements: Si, Al, Ca, but containing up to 12 cations. The matrix is the softer oxide phase, when the Cr rich precipitates are the harder. The analyses are consistent with the estimated macroscopic ablation ratio, but do not still explain the important axial ablation observed for this specific basaltic concrete. The different phases formation, distribution and solidification path are discussed. First comparisons are proposed with the former CCI tests with European concretes. These results give helpful insights for the future dismantling of the plant and for a deeper understanding of the CCI process for basaltic concrete.