Chemical interaction between VVER core components under accidental condition Original Research Article

Chemical interactions between VVER core materials have been studied. The experimental program aimed at the investigation of the reaction kinetics at high temperatures evolving in the reactor core during accidents. The chemical interaction between the following pairs of materials have been measured: Zrl%NbUO2; Zrl%Nb-steam; Zrl%Nb-stainless steel; Zrl%NbB4C; stainless steel-B4C. The experiments revealed that in all cases the interaction process is diffusion controlled and obeys a parabolic rate law. Arrhenius type correlations have been fitted to the experimental data. Comparison of the results with data published for PWR materials showed that the behavior of the VVER core materials is similar, only the reaction rates in case of VVER core components are slightly higher.