Hydrogen Bubble Characteristics during a Water-Sodium Lead Accident in a Steam Generator

Hydrogen bubble characteristics, the parameters of a defect in a steam generator heat-transfer tube, resonant frequencies and initial bubble radii can all be experimentally calculated using micro-lead rates resulting from a water/steam-into-liquid-sodium injection. The conditions of this experiment were sodium temperatures of 300, 400, and 500 ℃ and water injection rates of 0.005, 0.03, 0.08, and 0.183 g/sec. The acoustic spectra and hydrogen bubble frequency for a leak rate of 0.005 g/s were measured. Thereafter, the initial radius of hydrogen bubbles in sodium. Since the lifetime of hydrogen bubbles with a radius of about 3 mm was not more than 3 sec, the acoustic detection of a water/steam-into-sodium leak addident in a KALIMER (Korea Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor) steam generator can satisfy the safety requirments.