Corium-sodium interaction the development of the SCONE software

M. Zabiego (1) , C. Fochesato (1)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)

In the frame of the safety studies for the ASTRID reactor, CEA has started the development of the SCONE software. SCONE aims at being a mechanistic code dedicated to the simulation of the molten corium-sodium interaction that could occur in a sodium-cooled reactor. In particular, SCONE must allow studying the configuration of an interaction occurring in the lower plenum of ASTRID in case of massive relocation of corium discharged from the core by dedicated transfer tubes.In this paper, after a recall of the phenomenology of the interaction, the physics to represent with SCONE is described as well as the available modeling approaches. The main gaps in knowledge have been identified and are explained along with the foreseen experimental programs aiming at filling these gaps. The numerical aspects of the SCONE development are also discussed before concluding by giving the status of the SCONE software.

Mots clés: SFR; Severe accidents; corium/sodium interaction; SCONE

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]; Physique Nucléaire Théorique [nucl-th]

M. Zabiego, C. Fochesato. Corium-sodium interaction the development of the SCONE software. NURETH-17 - 17th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Sep 2017, Xi-An, China. ⟨cea-02434026⟩