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Breaking ground on a new approach to construction
The drive to Kairos Power’s reactor demonstration site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is not only scenic—it’s historic. Nearly 85 years ago, roughly 30,000 construction workers transformed orchards and farmland into a key Manhattan Project site. Depending on your route, you may pass by one of the three gatehouses that were once military checkpoints controlling access to Atomic Energy Commission production facilities.
M. Corradini, H.H. Reineke
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 102 | Number 3 | July 1989 | Pages 260-282
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE102-260
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The results from the BETA molten core/concrete interaction (MCCI) experiments conducted at Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK) and the associated analyses using computer models developed by KfK and by Sandia National Laboratories, i.e., WECHSL and CORCON, are described. Two important observations were made in the BETA steady-state tests: The first observation could be modeled by WECHSL and CORCON by modifications when interface heat transfer considered a “transition boiling” analogy model. The second observation was not modeled but is expected to be important during the high-temperature phase of the MCCI when fission product release is of concern. These results suggest that the BETA experiments provide necessary information to validate MCCI models for silicate (basaltic) concrete. For limestone (carbonatic) concrete, there are still open questions that further tests must address.