Spent Fuel Pool LOCA cover-up via NRC International Programs

During the past several years I have been unsuccessful in tracking NRC managed work at Sandia in the arena of heat and mass transfer in spent fuel pools under accident conditions.  Two reports, released to the public during 2013, reveal that the work has been going on for over 10 years.  Those reports also reveal that the work is unsatisfactory.

I emailed the following to the ACRS on January 3, 3014:

For ACRS from Robert H. Leyse

NRC Safety Research Program item NUREG/CR-7143 (ML13072A056)

Characterization of Thermal-Hydraulic and Ignition Phenomena in Prototypic, Full-Length Boiling Water Reactor Spent Fuel Pool Assemblies After a Postulated Complete Loss-of-Coolant Accident, published March 2013.

The ACRS should declare that this is unsatisfactory work. 

On page 5 of 247 of ML13072A056 :

The close coupling of the experimental and numerical programs allowed for rapid validation and improvement of the MELCOR whole pool calculations. Because of the success of this approach, this project will be used as a model for subsequent studies.  

The work does not approach being prototypic for at least the following reasons:

Diameter of the heater rods is 0.375 inches.  The heaters were made, “in a process whereby the 0.440-in. tubing was drawn through a die that reduced the diameter to 0.375 in. and compressed the magnesium oxide powder considerably.”  The 0.440 inch tubing is BWR fuel tubing.  However, the heater rods, with compressed (swaged) magnesium oxide and a diameter of 0.375 inches, are not anywhere close to being prototypic of the BWR case.

BWR fuel rods will swell (balloon) and burst from internal gas pressure during a Spent Fuel Pool Complete Loss-of-Coolant Accident (SFPLOCA). 

BWR fuel rods will be in intimate contact with inconel grids and will fuse with inconel grids at the elevated temperatures of the SFPLOCA.  Furthermore the intimate contact will be augmented by ballooning. 

The swelled cladding of BWR fuel rods has a significant impact on the ignition phenomena of a SFPLOCA.  (The ratio of surface area to heat capacity of separated cladding is far greater than that of swaged heater rods.)

Ballooned cladding of BWR fuel rods is not prototyped in extensive thermal-hydraulic testing with Incoloy heaters.  It is reported:  The diameter of the Incoloy heaters was slightly smaller than prototypic pins, 1.09x10^-2versus1.12x10^-2m.  That is 0.429 versus 0.440 inches.  However, that difference is trivial compared with the impact of ballooning.

The work dates back to 2004-2005, however, it is held under-cover until March 2013.  Other work remains under wraps.  Apparently PWR work will be reported sometime and this likely means that more trash will be exposed in defense of MELCOR and more.

Apparently, ACRS did not review this work in progress during 2004 and 2005. 

 
Moving on, I have continued my pursuit of the facts. 


Here is a revealing paragraph from the second of the following exchange of emails:


Further information on the PWR spent fuel pool experiments is not publically available at this time.  The work was conducted under an agreement with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  Reports documenting this work will be released to the public in accordance with the terms of the international agreement, which is typically three years after completion of the program.  

			Subject:	Re: Responses to your Emails
Date:	3/21/2014 10:21:07 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time
From:	Bobleyse@aol.com
Reply To: To: Robert.Beaton@nrc.gov

 

Robert:

 

Thank you, I have seen the NUREGs and I've recently viewed the poster.

 

I would really like to know how NRC got into this way of doing business, but that is likely beyond your scope.  Clearly, the American public is essentially uninformed, and ACRS does not evaluate the worth of the activity until all of the money is spent, and even then there is a chance that they will never look at it.  For example, it was not until February 5, 2014, that RES suggested that the following are candidates, although not required matters, for ACRS review:

 

 The candidate projects are listed here for your consideration:
• NUREG/CR-7143: Characterization of Thermal-Hydraulic and Ignition Phenomena in
Prototypic, Full-Length Boiling Water Reactor Spent Fuel Pool Assemblies After a
Postulated Complete Loss-of-Coolant Accident, March 2013 (ML13072A056)• NUREG/IA-0216, Vol. 3: International HRA Empirical Study – Phase 3 Report, January
2013 (ML12349A075)
• NUREG/CR-7149: Effects of Degradation on the Severe Accident Consequences for a
PWR Plant with a Reinforced Concrete Containment Vessel, June 2013 (ML13172A089)
• NUREG/CR-7144: Laminar Hydraulic Analysis of a Commercial Pressurized Water
Reactor Fuel Assembly, January 2013 (ML13028A415)• NUREG/CR-7148: Confirmatory Battery Testing: The Use of Float Current Monitoring to
Determine Battery State-of-Charge, November 2012 (ML12313A413)
• NUREG/CR-7171: A Review of the Effects of Radiation on Microstructures and
Properties of Concrete Used in Nuclear Power Plants, November 2013 (ML13325B077) 

 

The above list is copied from

http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1402/ML14029A468.pdf

 

On March 1, 2012, Borchardt (then EDO) told my Senator Risch about the openness of the NRC:

http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1205/ML12059A117.pdf

 

Robert H. Leyse     bobleyse@aol.com

 

In a message dated 3/21/2014 5:48:45 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time, Robert.Beaton@nrc.gov writes:

Mr. Leyse,

The following are responses to your emails to NRC as follows:

From Email to Robert Beaton on March 3, 2014 with subject “PWR Spent Fuel Pool LOCA at RIC 2014”

The publically available information on the spent fuel pool experiments conducted at Sandia National Laboratories is in the following NUREGs.

NUREG/CR-7143, "Characterization of Thermal-Hydraulic and Ignition Phenomena in Prototypic, Full-Length Boiling Water Reactor Spent Fuel Pool Assemblies After a Postulated Complete Loss-of-Coolant Accident", (ADAMS Accession Number ML13072A056)

NUREG/CR-7144, “Laminar Hydraulic Analysis of a Commercial Pressurized Water Reactor Fuel Assembly”, (ADAMS Accession Number ML13028A415)

Further information on the PWR spent fuel pool experiments is not publically available at this time.  The work was conducted under an agreement with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  Reports documenting this work will be released to the public in accordance with the terms of the international agreement, which is typically three years after completion of the program.

From Email to Robert Beaton on March 11, 2014 with subject “Please”

All the posters and presentations from the RIC are available on the USNRC website.  From the main RIC website (http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/conference-symposia/ric/), near the bottom, click on “Technical Poster and Tabletop Presentations”, then click on “Investigation of a Pressurized Water Reactor Spent Fuel Assembly under Complete Loss of Coolant Accident Conditions,” then finally on “View Presentation.”  Alternatively, you can go directly to an electronic copy of the specific poster you requested at: https://ric.nrc-gateway.gov/docs/posters/56_res-investigation-of-a-pressurized-water-reactor-spent-fuel-assembly-under.pdf

Regards,

Robert Beaton

=