Abstract
Paper is focused on the chemical and metallographic characterization of the debris comming from the simulation of steam explosion, a possible phenonmenon during the nuclear reactor severe accident. Analyzed debris are from various experimental programs - MISTEE (KTH, Stockholm, Sweden), PREMIX and ECO (FZK, Karlsruhe, Germany) and KROTOS (CEA Cadarache, France).
In the MISTEE facility molten tin drops are used to simulate the molten reactor core, alumina-iron mixture is used in the PREMIX and ECO facilities. Further, KROTOS experimental program used prototypic radioactive melt (UO2-ZrO2 mixture).
Solidified melt from above-mentioned tests was characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction thermogravimetry etc. The results give information about the debris morphology, chemical composition and crystal structure.
Main focus is give to the differences between prototypic and simulant materals.