The paper dwells upon scale effect that should be factored into explosion safety arrangements at nuclear fuel cycle facilities.
The study was undertaken to size the effect of changes in process equipment diameter on the fire and explosion hazards of technological processes involving exothermic reactions. The assessment was made using the key elements of the thermal explosion theory.
The paper describes the circumstances that make it necessary to take into consideration the scale effect in order to assure the explosion safety of a nuclear fuel cycle facility. The authors examine the suitability of the Frank-Kamenetsky criterion for assessing explosion safety of nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The discussion covers the scale factor effect on the temperature criteria for the self-ignition of the environment and on the induction period of an exothermic reaction.
Calculations have been performed for a model system to define the dependence of critical temperature on vessel radius and the dependence of adiabatic induction period on temperature.
Two types of diagrams have been proposed based on the study findings to evaluate the combined effect of parameters on the conditions critical for the self-ignition of explosive environment. It is shown that as a plant process scales up, a thermal explosion may occur at a lower critical temperature, and the induction period of an exothermic reaction may become longer.
Keywords: explosion indexes, scale factor, fuel cycle facilities.
Article language: Russian. Pp. 15–22. DOI: 10.26277/SECNRS.2020.97.3.002.
