0000005339 00000 n [6] Like PWRs, the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) utilizes . Do You Know Which African American Inventor Created Which Product? International Forum, August 2009. To reach these high temperatures, while ensuring useful graphite core life (due to readily oxidation of graphite in CO2 at high temperatures), a re-entrant coolant flow at the lower temperature of boiler outlet of 278 C is used to cool the graphite. 0000001256 00000 n Liquid metals, being electrically highly conductive, can be moved by electromagnetic pumps. trailer generator or cause a hydrogen explosion. The initials SFR in particular refer to two Generation IV reactor proposals, one based on existing liquid metal cooled reactor (LMFR) technology using mixed oxide fuel (MOX), and one based on the metal-fueled integral fast reactor. These reactors apply natural or somewhat enriched uranium as fuel. In addition, unlike conventional PWRs and BWRs (boiling water reactors), some gas cooled reactor designs have the ability to be refueled during the full-power performance, which presents some operational advantage and higher plant availability. 4. The liquid sodium gets cooled in the heat exchanger and goes back to the reactor vessel. Of the ten units, all ended by the end of 1994, usually due to economic reasons. secondary molten sodium stream can exchange its heat with water to 14. large-scale nuclear challenges. Telephone: +43 (1) 2600-0, Facsimile +43 (1) 2600-7, 19982023 IAEA, All rights reserved. However, the half-life of activated sodium is only 15 hours. The purpose of shifting fuel at the time of reload is to achieve an optimal reactivity and power distribution for the next cycle of operation. . Leak proof heat exchanger must be used, which increases extra cost. In the loop type, the heat exchangers are outside the reactor tank. Disadvantages: 1. This period was set so that taken loans for the plant would be paid off. The CO2 coolant circulates in the core, which reaches a temperature of 640 C and a pressure of about 40 bar. Amongst different emerging energy technologies, nuclear energy 2016. This significantly resulted in an increase in the cost of the power production by an AGR. %%EOF [5] G. De Clercq, 0000006272 00000 n The UNGG, abbreviated form of Uranium Naturel Graphite Gaz, is an outdated design of nuclear power reactor developed in France. The result of this policy is the Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactora line of natural uranium-fueled reactors moderated and cooled by heavy water. The magnesium-zirconium alloy was used as the fuel cladding material in the UNGG instead of the magnesium-aluminum alloy in Magnox. The primary advantage of liquid metal coolants, such as liquid sodium, is that metal atoms are weak neutron moderators. The AGR was designed so that the final conditions of steam at the boiler stop valve were equal to that of conventional coal-fired power plants. Clementine was the first liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor and used mercury coolant, thought to be the obvious choice since it is liquid at room temperature. with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. var _wau = _wau || []; _wau.push(["classic", "4niy8siu88", "bm5"]); | HOME | SITEMAP | CONTACT US | ABOUT US | PRIVACY POLICY |, COPYRIGHT 2014 TO 2023 EEEGUIDE.COM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Advantages and Disadvantages, Crystal Oscillators Circuit, Working, Advantages and Disadvantages, Class A Push Pull Amplifier Working Principle, Advantages & Disadvantages, Collector Modulation Circuit Working, Advantages and Disadvantages, Balanced Slope Detector Working, Advantages and Disadvantages, Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Numerical Methods, Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Communication, Fixed Bias Circuit Diagram Advantages and Disadvantages, Satellite Communication System Definition, Block Diagram, Advantages and Disadvantages, Mechanical Design of Overhead Lines Interview Questions and Answers, Supply Systems Interview Questions and Answers, Tariffs and Power Factor Improvement Interview Questions and Answers, Power Plants Economics Interview Questions and Answers, Interconnected Systems Interview Questions and Answers, Cogeneration and Energy Conservation Interview Questions and Answers, Environmental aspects of Electric Energy Generation Interview Questions and Answers, Combined Operation of Power Plants Interview Questions and Answers, Economic Operation of Power Plants Interview Questions and Answers, Selection of Power Plant Interview Questions and Answers, Non Conventional Methods of Power Generation Interview Questions and Answers, Turbine Power Plants Interview Questions and Answers, Diesel Electric Power Plants Interview Questions and Answers, Nuclear Power Plants Interview Questions and Answers, Steam Power Plants Interview Questions and Answers. Key to Nuclear's Future or an Element of Doubt, The "The Containment systems and major nuclear accidents, From production reactors to commercial power reactors. The second nuclear submarine, USSSeawolf was the only U.S. submarine to have a sodium-cooled, beryllium-moderated nuclear power plant. IRSN 2012/158, September 2012. Designs," Institut de Radioprotection et de Sret compared with Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) that achieve 100 A liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, or LMR is a type of nuclear reactor where the primary coolant is a liquid metal. thermal conductivity and heat capacity creates a large thermal inertia Despite sodium's low specific heat (as compared to water), this enables the absorption of significant heat in the liquid phase, while maintaining large safety margins. The high boiling point of lead provides safety advantages as it can cool the reactor efficiently even if it reaches several hundred degrees Celsius above normal operating conditions. Early SFRs, constructed before the establishment of the GIF, have also The Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGR) is a designed and operated nuclear reactor in the UK. SFR can achieve a core power density of around 300 MW/m3 The name refers especially to the design done in the UK but is sometimes applied generically to any similar reactor. The Encapsulated Nuclear Heat Source (ENHS) concept is a liquid metal-cooled reactor of 50 MWe being developed by the University of California. It is focused on the following subjects: state of the art of liquid metal fast reactor (LMFR) development; design features and operating experience of demonstration and commercial sized nuclear power plants with sodium cooled fast reactors; leadbismuth cooled (LBC) ship reactor operation experience and LBC fast power reactor development; treatment and disposal of spent sodium; decontamination after shutdown of the typical loop type LMFR; and an analysis of advantages and disadvantages of sodium as a coolant, giving due consideration to advances in the technology and design of sodium components. The reactor is designed to produce a maximum thermal power of 3 Mw and a maximum exit He temperature of 2400 deg F. The purpose of the experimert is to evaluate the advantages of the simple fuel against the disadvantages of the associated operation of a contaminated coolant loop. This allows for the coolant to operate at higher temperatures and lower pressures than current reactorsimproving the efficiency and safety of the system. Under atmospheric condition, sodium boils at 880C and freezes at 95C, therefore sodium is first melted by electric heating system and then pressurized to about 7 bar, thus the sodium turns into liquid phase. A reactor of this kind consists of a tank, or calandria vessel, containing a cold heavy water moderator at atmospheric pressure. nuclear reactor. Other significant types are briefly described, as are research and propulsion reactors. Not only one of the cheapest available metals (DuPont reactor grade Niapure is approximately $1.60/lb), liquid sodium is further advantageous because it carries a high power density and is non-corrosive to stainless steels: oxygen reacts preferentially with sodium, forming Na 2 O. primary sodium coolant does not directly exchange its heat with the This is the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, utilizing graphite as the neutron moderator and CO2 as coolant. [8] The electrically-conductive molten sodium can be moved by electromagnetic pumps. Thus, fast neutrons have a smaller chance of being captured by the uranium and plutonium, but when they are captured, have a much bigger chance of causing a fission. This allows the system to transfer more heat over greater distances. For example in 2022, in the USA, TerraPower (using its Traveling Wave technology[2]) is planning to build its own reactors along with molten salt energy storage[3] in partnership with GEHitachi's PRISM integral fast reactor design, under the Natrium[4] appellation in Kemmerer, Wyoming.[5][6]. The Soviet November-class submarine K-27 and all seven Alfa-class submarines used reactors cooled by lead-bismuth eutectic and moderated with beryllium as their propulsion plants. Arturo Rojas. xref century. "Generation This means that the pressure of nitrogen cannot be maintained. near atmospheric pressure since its boiling point is higher than the 0000018460 00000 n other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. Then, it passes through boiler assemblies (steam generator) outside the core but still within the concrete pressure vessel. [8] Disadvantages include difficulties associated with inspection and repair of a reactor immersed in opaque molten metal, and depending on the choice of metal, fire hazard risk (for alkali metals ), corrosion and/or production of radioactive activation products may be an issue. The saturated steam that exits the core region is transported through a series of separators and dryers located within the reactor vessel that promote a superheated state. During the 1960s, when the nuclear industry was in its early stage, it was expected that spent fuel could be shipped out for reprocessing within two years. reactor's operating temperature. oxygen-free system prevents corrosion. The secondary loop contains an alloy of sodium and potassium in liquid form. project by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission The first-generation gas cooled reactions were made in the United Kingdom and France in which natural uranium fuel and magnesium or magnesium alloys were used for the cladding. nuclear reactions and sodium explosions. neutrons, an SFR uses fast neutrons, which are neutrons that have not There the heat from the primary loop is transferred to a lower-pressure secondary loop also containing water. . "The From the safety perspective, gas cooled reactors usually employ lower core power density and higher heat capacity core, supporting the limited fuel temperatures after a loss-of-coolant accident. More recent designssmall modular reactors that produce 300 megawatts or lessmay be able to provide energy on a more economic scale and thus appeal to a much broader market. Then, it is pumped to a heat exchanger for the production of steam to run a conventional steam turbine to generate power. The hot helium can be used directly as the working fluid in a high-temperature gas turbine, or its heat can be utilized to generate steam for a water cycle. FCCI causes the cladding to reduce in strength and even rupture. Further advantages of tin are the high boiling point and the ability to build a crust even over liquid tin helps to cover poisonous leaks and keeps the coolant in and at the reactor. Production of superheated steam and excellent heat removal. To date, most fast neutron reactors have been liquid metal cooled fast reactors (LMFRs). The most promising type of breeder reactor is the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR), which operates by using liquid sodium as its coolant, and breeds plutonium from uranium-238. Reactivated in 2010, then permanently closed, This page was last edited on 25 January 2023, at 18:35. I. Pioro, R. Duffey, in Managing Global Warming, 2019 4.4.2.3 Liquid-metal coolants. Hence, the salt can be both the fuel and the coolant at the same time. At Dounreay in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) operated the Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR), using NaK as a coolant, from 1959 to 1977, exporting 600 GW-h of electricity to the grid over that period. the sodium is highly reactive with air and water; however, the Light-water reactors (LWRs) are power reactors that are cooled and moderated with ordinary water. While fuel choices are relatively limited, there are numerous fused salts to . There are two principal types of HTGRs, including Pebble Bed Reactors (PBRs) and Prismatic Block Reactors (PMRs). Sodium-cooled fast reactors are described briefly in Chapter 3.Some more details are discussed below [15-18]. The pebble bed reactor contains fuel in the form of pebbles that are placed in a cylindrical pressure vessel. The amount of transuranic transmutation is limited by the production of plutonium from uranium. increase. 0000014282 00000 n It has been tested by Ukrainian researchers and was proposed to convert the boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster into liquid tin cooled reactors.[8]. The largest constructed UNGG reactor was Bugey 1, with a net power output of 540 MW. Cooling specific components. Sodium and NaK do, however, ignite spontaneously on contact with air and react violently with water, producing hydrogen gas. 0000000016 00000 n There are several types of power reactors, but only one, the light-water reactor, is widely used. It was succeeded at the same site by PFR, the Prototype Fast Reactor, which operated from 1974 to 1994 and used liquid sodium as its coolant. For example, the metal's high thermal conductivity and heat capacity creates a large thermal inertia against . [6] C. Grandy, "US Department of Energy and Nuclear as it allows for a high power density with a low coolant volume. 2cm thick). All Rights Reserved. of liquid metal provides a multitude of advantages due to the physical Core but still within the concrete pressure vessel proof heat exchanger must be used, Which a. Closed, this page was last edited on 25 January 2023, at 18:35 molten stream! Temperatures and lower pressures than current reactorsimproving the efficiency and safety of the ten units, all rights.! 2019 4.4.2.3 Liquid-metal coolants Know Which African American Inventor Created Which Product the heat exchangers are the!, can be both the fuel and the coolant at the same time, 19982023 IAEA all. S high thermal conductivity and heat capacity creates a large thermal inertia against by electromagnetic.! Highly conductive, can be moved by electromagnetic pumps must be used, reaches! Briefly described, as are research and propulsion reactors n there are types. 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