"It is a flame-front phenomenon ... ."

Please click on the
http://www.inl.gov/relap5/rius/yellowstone/leyse.pdf
You will then view a set of 18 slides.

Today I'll discuss slide 16 and then slide 15. Slide 16 is below, followed by slide 15


Unfortunately, MacDonald did not present any photographs. If he had, they would very likely be similar to the photograph on my entry of January 21, 2007, in this blog. That test was conducted on December 11, 197o, or more than 10 years before the MacDonald report to the ACRS. The test of December 11, 1970, became known as run 9573. During 1973, the Atomic Energy Commission held a series of hearings as they investigated the safety of nuclear power plants under accident conditions. The Commissioners were dismayed by the implications of run 9573 and the transcript of the proceedings includes the quote below in slide 15.

It is interesting that as of today, over 33 years later, experiments with zircaloy cladding have not overcome the impression left from run 9573. MacDonald's report of the PBF test certainly does not overcome the impression left by run 9573. And the flame front phenomenon described by MacDonald has not been addressed in any of the months or years following his report; however, billion dollar models have been concocted.