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DOE nuclear cleanup costs, schedule delays continue to rise, GAO says
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management faces significant cost increases, schedule delays, and data management issues in completing nuclear waste cleanup projects, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
V. K. Dhir, W. E. Kastenberg, D. W. Varela
Nuclear Technology | Volume 46 | Number 3 | December 1979 | Pages 447-452
Technical Paper | Nuclear Power Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32352
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Generally, the blockages that may form in the reactor core when molten fuel is ejected into the coolant channels during a transient overpower accident can be divided into two categories. The first type of blockage forms when semi-molten fuel particles hit a wire wrap and freeze on the wire wrap, whereas the second type of blockage forms when solid or semi-solid particles get stuck in the coolant channels. The thermal-hydraulic analysis of these proposed blockages indicates that under certain specific conditions, the blockages can lead to melting of the wire wrap and cladding and also to in-channel voiding. The second type of blockage, if formed as a plug, may remelt before being quenched by subcooled or saturated sodium.