Reactivity initiated accident test series Test RIA 1-4

Abstract

The Reactivity Initiated Accident (RIA) Test RIA 1-4, the first 9-rod fuel rod bundle RIA Test to be performed at BWR hot startup conditions, was completed on April 16, 1980. The test was performed in the Power Burst Facility (PBF). Objective for Test RIA 1-4 was to provide information regarding loss-of-coolable fuel rod geometry following a RIA event for a peak fuel enthalpy equivalent to the present licensing criteria of 280 cal/g. The most severe RIA is the postulated Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) control rod drop during reactor startup. Therefore the test was conducted at BWR hot startup coolant conditions (538 K, 6.45 MPa, 0.8 1/sec). The test sequence began with steady power operation to condition the fuel, establish a short-lived fission product inventory, and calibrate the calorimetric measurements and core power chambers, neutron flux and gamma flux detectors. The test train was removed from the in-pile tube (IPT) to replace one of the fuel rods with a nominally identical irradiated rod and twelve flux wire monitors. A 2.8 ms period power burst was then performed. Coolant flow measurements were made before and after the power burst to characterize the flow blockage that occurred as a result of fuel rodmore » failure.« less