Core cooling channel inlet blockage has damaged fuel in plate fueled reactors and contributes significantly to the probability of fuel damage based on Probabilistic Risk Assessment. A Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) model for fuel melt from inlet flow blockage for the High Flux Isotope Reactor and similar plate fueled research reactors, commonly referred to as MTR type reactors, is presented. The model is coded for high throughput graphics processing unit (GPU) calculations. Melt progression models support estimation of energy release during progression of fuel melting and fuel coolant interaction (FCI). Accurate mechanistic fuel melt progression models support best estimate prediction of stress on the reactor vessel from the rapid energy release due to FCI, and allow movement toward quantification of uncertainty in fuel coolant flow blockage consequence assessment. The SPH modeling approach is convenient for following movement of fuel and coolant during melt progression, is structured to facilitate rapid massively parallel computation, and provides a tool for capturing the complex interactions of fuel melting in steam and water.
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