Deposition of ITER Vacuum Vessel Dust Inside the Pressure Suppression System During a Loss of Coolant Accident: Experimental and Numerical Analyses

This paper deals with an experimental and numerical analyses of the deposition of a simulant of ITER dust inside a reduced scale Pressure Suppression System (PSS) of ITER. This research activity, funded by ITER Organization, has the aim to analyse the deposition behaviour of the dust inside the PSS, the dust removal by means of remotely operated apparatuses and the decontamination efficiency of these apparatuses. The experimental rig, built at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering of the University of Pisa, is described and the results of the preliminary tests are illustrated. A numerical model of the experimental rig is implemented in ECART computer code for determining the importance of different parameters on the deposition, resuspension and removal of the dust. The numerical simulations permitted to define more precisely the test matrix and to analyse the experimental results.