Cold Crucible Facility for Severe Accident Research at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories

Abstract

The properties and behavior of corium are important factors in the progression and ultimate consequences of a severe nuclear reactor accident. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is developing a cold crucible facility to create and study small quantities of CANDU corium and, potentially, other molten materials. This paper describes the facility and presents preliminary results with nonradioactive charges and with radioactive, near-prototypical charges.