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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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Prepare for the 2025 PE Exam with ANS guides
The next opportunity to earn professional engineer (PE) licensure in nuclear engineering is this fall. Now is the time to sign up and begin studying with the help of materials like the online module program offered by the American Nuclear Society.
Daniel Cubicciotti, Bal Raj Sehgal
Nuclear Technology | Volume 67 | Number 2 | November 1984 | Pages 191-207
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT84-A33510
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The vaporization of core materials other than fission products during a postulated severe light water reactor accident is treated by chemical thermodynamics. The core materials considered were (a) the control rod materials, silver, cadmium, and indium; (b) the structural materials, iron, chromium, nickel, and manganese; (c) cladding material, zirconium and tin; and (d) the fuel, uranium oxide. Thermodynamic data employed for the solid and gaseous elements and oxides were based on measurements, while the data for the gaseous hydroxides were generally based on estimates from literature. Thermodynamic criteria were derived to determine whether the metallic element or the solid oxide was the stable condensed phase for the accident environmental conditions. Equations for the partial pressures for all gaseous species were also derived. The relevant environmental conditions were provided by the pressurized water reactor and boiling water reactor heat-up thermal-hydraulic codes. The volatilities of the core materials were found to decrease roughly in the following order: cadmium, indium, tin, iron, silver, manganese, nickel, chromium, uranium, and zirconium. Cadmium and indium would provide the largest mass of core material that can be transported out of the core.