The KROTOS test facility is a relatively small scale experimental installation dedicated to the study of: (a) molten fuel-coolant pre-mixing either with prototypic reactor melts or simulants such as alumina up to 5 kg; (b) progression and energetics of spontaneous and triggered fuel-coolant interactions (vapor explosions).

The PHEBUS FP (Fission Products) international research programme was conducted between 1988 and 2010. Its purpose was to improve the understanding of the phenomena occurring during a core meltdown accident in a light water reactor and to validate the computational software used to represent these phenomena in reactor safety evaluations. The report of the last test was published in December 2010 and was the topic of a closing seminar organised in June 2012.

Boron carbide rod degradation test and associated releases.

The experimental programme becarre (2001-2010) belongs to the international “source term” programme. The becarre programme Objectives involve better understanding the degradation phenomena occurring in boron carbide (B4c) control rods during a core meltdown accident and determining the laws governing steam oxidation of B4c pellets and relocated mixtures. These laws will be used to both quantify the gases produced during oxidation, and estimate their potential effect upon iodine releases into the environment. The programme results will help improve the icare 2 code which is being developed by irsn.

The CHIP programme aims to reduce the level of uncertainty on radioactive iodine releases during a core meltdown accident in a nuclear reactor. The programme results will also be used to better define the means and measures to be implemented in order to limit such releases.

The separate effect studies of vertical steam generators have been conducted in the CIEMAT PECA facility, which was properly modified and conditioned for that purpose. The PECA facility set-up used in the SGTR separate effect tests basically consists of:
1. Two injection lines, one designed for supplying air at relatively high flow rates from a compressor, and the other for the aerosol injection.
2. The vessel, containing the tube mini-bundle.
3. The associated instrumentation and sampling stations.

The MISTRA facility is a steel cylindrical vessel with a top flat cap and a curved bottom. The internal volume is 99.5m3, the internal diameter - 4.25m, the height - 7.4m. The vessel is thermally insulated, but the wall temperature is not controlled. Three cylindrical condensers are inserted inside the vessel, close to the wall and one above the other (so that they span over most of the vessel height). The facility is designed in such a way that almost all steam condensation is supposed to occur on the interior side of the condensers. The facility was additionally equipped with sprays located below the vessel ceiling. The instrumentation includes devices for measuring pressure, temperature, gas concentration and velocity (laser Doppler anemometry).

FARO (Furnace And Release Oven) experimental facility began the experiments of the LWR-MFCI phenomena in 1990 in collaboration with several reactor safety research organizations from European Union member countries and with the participation of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Two-phase flow test facility was constructed to study the applicability of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Wire-Mesh Sensors (WMS) for different types of single- and two-phase flows

The QUEOS facility serves to study premixing phenomena with solid spheres, i.e. without the danger of a steam explosion and the complication of melt fragmentation. Emphasis was put on high sphere temperatures (up to 2600 K) and the use of large numbers of comparatively small spheres so that intensive multiphase interactions with strong coupling of the phases (collective motion of the spheres) are observed. In order to simulate melt jets as closely as possible, the spheres are released as a cylindrical jet into a three-dimensional test vessel.

The aim of the DEFOR (Debris Bed Formation) program is clarification of the phenomena that govern formation of the debris bed in different scenarios of corium melt release into a deep water pool and quantification of the debris bed properties related to coolability.

The Mozart analytical test program, conducted from 2005 to 2007, was dedicated to the study of oxidation in air of nuclear fuel cladding. This study was part of the International Source Term Program initiated by the IRSN, whose aim is to reduce uncertainties concerning the evaluation of radioactive product emissions into the environment in the event of a core meltdown accident in a pressurized water reactor or a spent fuel storage pool accident.

VITI (‘‘VIscosity Temperature Installation’’) facility has been developed to measure viscosity, density and surface tension on corium up to 2600 C by aerodynamic levitation. But it is also used as small crucibles heating for material interactions tests. Samples of less than 100 g can be studied in VITI.