Effects of Energy Losses of Arbitrary Magnitude on Fuel Quality, Vapor Density, and Bubble Diameter in an Idealized Expansion of Mixtures of UO₂ and Sodium

Idealized equilibrium expansion calculations were made to determine the characteristics of UO₂ vapor bubbles produced under sodium in the capacitor discharge vaporization experiments at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. These characteristics are the quality of the vaporized UO₂, it vapor density, and the bubble diameter. A parametric study was made over the range of initial and final states expected to occur in the experiments to determine the effects of losing arbitrary amounts of energy and of vaporizing arbitrary amounts of sodium. The results are sufficiently general to be of use in estimating bubble characteristics for a hypothetical core disruptive accident in a liquid metal-cooled fast breeder reactor.