MS Mechanical Sciences MS Mech. Sci. 2191-916X Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/ms-2-189-2011 Initial prediction of dust production in pebble bed reactors Rostamian M. 1 Arifeen S. 2 Potirniche G. P. 2 Tokuhiro A. 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Idaho, 1776 Science Center Dr, Idaho Falls, ID, USA Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Idaho, 440902 Moscow, ID, 83844-0902, USA 30 09 2011 2 2 189 195 Copyright: © 2011 M. Rostamian et al. 2011 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://ms.copernicus.org/articles/2/189/2011/ms-2-189-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://ms.copernicus.org/articles/2/189/2011/ms-2-189-2011.pdf

This paper describes the computational simulation of contact zones between pebbles in a pebble bed reactor. In this type of reactor, the potential for graphite dust generation from frictional contact of graphite pebbles and the subsequent transport of dust and fission products can cause significant safety issues at very high temperatures around 900 °C in HTRs. The present simulation is an initial attempt to quantify the amount of nuclear grade graphite dust produced within a very high temperature reactor.

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