Development of a Passive Reactor Shutdown Device to Prevent Core Disruptive Accidents in Fast Reactors: A Preliminary Study

IR (HANDLE) Open Access
  • Morita, Koji
    Department of Applied Quantum Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University
  • Liu, Wei
    Department of Applied Quantum Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University
  • Arima, Tatsumi
    Department of Applied Quantum Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University
  • Arita, Yuji
    Research Institute of Nuclear Engineering, University of Fukui
  • Sato, Isamu
    Department of Nuclear Safety Engineering & Cooperative Major in Nuclear Energy, Tokyo City University
  • Matsuura, Haruaki
    Department of Nuclear Safety Engineering and Cooperative Major in Nuclear Energy, Tokyo City University
  • Sekio, Yoshihiro
    Oarai Research and Development Institute, Japan Atomic Energy Agency
  • Sagara, Hiroshi
    Laboratory for Zero-Carbon Energy, Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology
  • Kawashima, Masatoshi
    Laboratory for Zero-Carbon Energy, Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology

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Description

Following the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011, it has become increasingly important for reactor safety designs to consider measures that can prevent the occurrence of severe accidents. This report proposes a novel subassembly-type passive reactor shutdown device that expands the diversity and robustness of core disruptive accident (CDA) prevention strategies for sodium-cooled fast reactors. The developed device contains pins with a fuel material that is in the solid state during normal operation but melts into a liquid when the temperature exceeds a certain value (i.e., during a potential accident). When an unprotected loss of flow (ULOF) or unprotected transient overpower (UTOP) accident occurs, the device can passively provide significant negative reactivity by rapidly transferring liquefied device fuel into the lower plenum region of the pins via gravitation alone. The reactors containing some of the proposed devices in place of original fuel subassemblies become subcritical before the driver fuels are damaged, even if ULOF or UTOP transient events occur. The present study evaluates candidate materials for device fuels (e.g., metallic alloy, chloride), optimal device pin structures for liquefied fuel relocation, and nuclear and thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the device-loaded core under accident conditions to demonstrate the engineering applicability of the proposed device. This report discusses preliminary results regarding the nuclear requirements for inducing negative reactivity to achieve reactor shutdown under the expected device conditions during an accident.

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Details 詳細情報について

  • CRID
    1050018904724466304
  • NII Book ID
    AA12720749
  • ISSN
    23328975
    23328983
  • HANDLE
    2324/7178786
  • Text Lang
    en
  • Article Type
    journal article
  • Data Source
    • IRDB

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