Construction of the molten salt pump and valve loops

The purpose of the molten salt pump and valve test loop is to demonstrate the performance, reliability, and lifetime of full-scale hot and cold salt pumps and valves for use in commercial salt-in-tube receiver solar power plant. The test hardware consists of two pumped loops, one to simulate the hot side of the receiver at a temperature of 565{degrees}C (referred to as the hot loop) and one to simulate the receiver's cold side at 285{degrees}C (referred to as the cold loop). Each loop contains a pump and five representative valves sized for a 60-MW{sub e} commercial solar power plant using molten salt heat transport fluid. The test loop is part of the Molten Salt Subsystem/Component Test Experiment, which is being conducted to reduce the technical risk of building and operating commercial solar central receiver plants. The project, managed by Sandia National Laboratories with Babcock and Wilcox as the prime contractor, is cost shared by the US Department of Energy and six contractors. 25 figs., 9 tabs.