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Radiolysis of the Coolant during the Decomposition of a Hydrogen Solution near the Saturation Temperature in VVER Reactors

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Abstract

Radiolysis of the VVER coolant during the transition of hydrogen from the liquid phase into gas-vapor bubbles is calculated. It is found that the decrease in the concentration of hydrogen in the liquid phase occurs until the hydrogen flow into bubbles becomes comparable to the hydrogen production due to radiolysis. In this case, a jump in hydrogen concentration leads to a sharp restructuring of the entire pattern of time dependences of the concentrations of radiolysis products. This is especially true for the behavior of concentrations of O2 and H2O2, i.e., the main oxidants of the zirconium cladding of fuel elements. It is shown that the local oxygen concentration relative to the permissible value can increase by more than 1000 times when the reactor is operated at >50% Nnom power. Similar behavior is demonstrated by hydrogen peroxide H2O2. However, the increase in its relative concentration by the same time is slightly more than one order of magnitude. A significant local increase in the concentration of oxidizing products of the radiolysis of O2 and H2O2 in the coolant seems to be the main reason for the appearance of a white deposit on the cladding of VVER fuel elements near the 12th spacer grid.

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Notes

  1. Henry’s law establishes a relationship between the concentration of molecules dissolved in the liquid phase and the partial pressure of the gas. If there are no molecules of the substance in question in the liquid, then above the surface of the liquid the partial pressure can be arbitrary. In this sense, Henry’s law does not apply.

  2. The suppression mechanism is that a sufficiently high concentration of H2 in water prevents the reaction OH + H2O2 → HO2 + H2O, k7 = 4.5 × 107 dm3/(mol s) generating HO2 radicals, the immediate precursors of H2O2 and radiolytic oxygen.

  3. The program was tested by comparing the results of calculation with solutions of a number of known problems. In addition, a comparison with the results of radiolysis measurements at γ irradiation of pure water in full-scale experiments [22] was made. The calculations used the database from [20] verified on a number of reactor experiments.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank T.N. Alieva for discussion of some features of the model of water radiolysis in VVER conditions.

Funding

This work was supported by ongoing institutional funding. No additional grants to carry out or direct this particular research were obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Center Kurchatov Institute, 123182, Moscow, Russia

    A. S. Ivanov, P. A. Kalashnikova, A. A. Kovalishin, O. Yu. Poveschenko & M. D. Taran

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  1. A. S. Ivanov
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  2. P. A. Kalashnikova
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  3. A. A. Kovalishin
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  4. O. Yu. Poveschenko
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  5. M. D. Taran
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Correspondence to A. S. Ivanov.

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Translated by O. Pismenov

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Ivanov, A.S., Kalashnikova, P.A., Kovalishin, A.A. et al. Radiolysis of the Coolant during the Decomposition of a Hydrogen Solution near the Saturation Temperature in VVER Reactors. Phys. Atom. Nuclei 86, 1943–1952 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063778823080070

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