Investigations on natural circulation in reactor models and shutdown heat removal systems for LMFBRs (liquid metal fast breeder reactors)

For sodium-cooled pool-type reactors, studies have been undertaken to remove the decay heat by natural convection alone, as in the case of failure of all power supplies. For this purpose, four immersion coolers (ICs), two each installed at a 180-deg circumferential position with respect to the others, are arranged within the reactor tank. They are connected with natural-drift air coolers through independent intermediate circuits. The primary sodium in the tank as well as the secondary sodium in the intermediate loop circulate by natural convection. The general functioning of this passive shutdown decay heat removal (DHR) system is demonstrated in 1:20 and 1:5 scale test models using water as a simulant fluid for sodium. The model design is based on the thermohydraulics similarity criteria. In the RAMONA three-dimensional 1:20 scale model, experiments were carried out to clarify the steady-state in-vessel thermohydraulics for different parameter combinations (core power, radial power distribution across the core, DHR by 2 or 4 ICs in operation, above-core structure geometry and position, different IC designs). For all mentioned parameters, temperatures and their fluctuations were measured and used to indicate isotherms and lines of identical temperature fluctuations. The flow patterns were observed visually. The experiments were recalculated bymore » an updated version of the single-phase three-dimensional thermohydraulics code COMMIX.« less