Improving nuclear safety in Europe
As part of its activities to increase the safety of nuclear fission technology in Europe, the Institute for Systems Informatics and Safety of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre operates the FARO test facility at Ispra in Italy. The FARO test programme is aimed at obtaining experimental data on the formation of molten fuel pools, on the quenching of fuel jets in the reactor coolant and on the interaction of molten reactor fuel for geometries and conditions simulating in-vessel and ex-vessel severe accident situations. The data obtained is essential for setting up appropriate accident management strategies and procedures. A base case spreading test simulating corium melt spreading during a severe nuclear accident was performed in mid-1997 in the FARO facility. It was the first of this kind of large-scale test and showed noticeable differences in comparison to earlier tests performed in several laboratories at lower temperatures or higher flow rates. Further tests with different melt compositions will investigate how to improve the performance of core catchers based on core melt spreading and cooling. The FARO programme is performed in close cooperation with European Union national laboratories working in the field of severe accidents, with European industry (Siemens, Framatome, Ansaldo and Electricité de France), and with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the US.