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Flow Boling Crisis
Published in L. S. Tong, Y. S. Tang, Boiling Heat Transfer and Two-Phase Flow, 2018
It should be mentioned that boiling within a liquid metal-cooled reactor (such as a sodium-cooled reactor) is an accident condition and may give rise to rapid fuel failure. In designing a reactor core, on the other hand, sodium boiling should not be included, and the design should almost certainly include considerable margin before boiling might be initiated (Graham, 1971).
Integrated Fast Reactor: PRISM
Published in Kenneth D. Kok, Nuclear Engineering Handbook, 2016
Maria Pfeffer, Scott Pfeffer, Eric Loewen, Brett Dooies, Brian Triplett
The concept of a liquid metal-cooled reactor dates back to the genesis of nuclear energy. The first nuclear reactor to generate electricity was the liquid sodium–potassium-cooled fast reactor Experimental Breeder Reactor-I (EBR-I) [5]. EBR-I’s successor, the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) EBR-II operated successfully for over 30 years, producing 20 MW of electricity via a sodium-steam power cycle [6].
EBR-II MOX Fuel Characterization Enabling ARES Phase I Testing
Published in Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2023
John D. Bess, Andrew S. Chipman, Chad L. Pope, Colby B. Jensen, Takayuki Ozawa, Shun Hirooka, Masato Kato
A computational model was necessary to support the reactor physics characterization of the EBR-II test fuel pins. The EBR-II was a 62.5 MW(thermal) integrated experimental fast reactor nuclear power station22 that operated from August 1964 through September 1994. This liquid-metal-cooled reactor provided extensive data supporting plant operations as well as materials and fuel testing.23,24 A reactor physics benchmark was previously developed for the EBR-II based on measurements performed during the Shutdown Heat Removal Tests (SHRT). Run 138B of the EBR-II was performed on April 3, 1986 to create a severe unprotected loss-of-flow situation and to demonstrate effective passive feedback; the SHRT-45R test proved natural shutdown of a SFR (Ref. 25). This benchmark was contributed to the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project26 (IRPhEP) and can be found within the IRPhEP Handbook, International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments, under the identifier EBR2-LMFR-RESR-001 (Ref. 27). The IRPhEP was established to preserve and evaluate integral reactor physics experiment data, including separate- or special-effects measurements for nuclear energy and technology applications. The expertise, practices, methodologies, and applications support and sustain integral benchmark data.28 An additional discussion of the quality expectations of modern benchmark evaluations is summarized elsewhere.29
Scoping Studies for a Lead-Lithium-Cooled, Minor-Actinide-Burning, Fission-Fusion Hybrid Reactor Design
Published in Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2023
Joshua Ruegsegger, Connor Moreno, Matthew Nyberg, Tim Bohm, Paul P. H. Wilson, Ben Lindley
Quasi-static analysis of reactor stability was conducted under the assumption that the reactor was critical using the calculated temperature reactivity coefficients, as described by Wade and Chang for the Integral Fast Reactor.34 Three coefficients, A, B, and C, were calculated, corresponding to the response to changes in fuel temperature, bulk coolant temperature, and inlet coolant temperature, respectively. The authors of Ref. 34 noted that, for a liquid-metal-cooled reactor, these encompass all means by which the reactivity of the fission core can be externally influenced, apart from control element scram. These coefficients are described in Eqs. (3), (4), and (5):
Operational Considerations for Space Fission Power and Propulsion Platforms
Published in Nuclear Technology, 2021
Andrew C. Klein, Allen Camp, Patrick McClure, Susan Voss, Elan Borenstein, Paul VanDamme
In deep space, on the lunar surface, or orbiting and intercepting other Solar System bodies the environment is a vacuum. With no wind present, the release of fission products may not move very far in the absence of another driving force. For a gas-cooled reactor, a driving force may exist to expel fission products toward a place of human habitation if high-pressure gas is present during the accident. In a heat pipe reactor or liquid-metal-cooled reactor this high-pressure gas driving force will not exist. So, the fission products may be produced but not travel very far from the reactor location without a force to move them. In general, it is believed that for these situations the fission products will thermally diffuse to the nearest cold surface and attach themselves. This could be parts of the reactor/spacecraft for a deep space reactor or the lunar regolith for the Moon.