Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Thermal study of the emergency draining tank of molten salt reactor

  • C. Peniguel (EDF R&D)
  • Received : 2023.06.28
  • Accepted : 2023.08.11
  • Published : 2024.03.25
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Abstract

In the framework of the European project SAMOSAFER, this numerical study focuses on some thermal aspects of the Emergency Draining Tank (EDT) located underneath the core of a Molten Salt Reactor. In case of an emergency, this tank passively receives the liquid fuel salt and is designed to ensure a subcritical state. An important requirement is that the fuel does not overheat to maintain the EDT Hastelloy container integrity. The present EDT is based upon a group of hexagonal cooling assemblies arranged in a hexagonal grid and cooled down thanks to conduction through the inert salt layer up to an air flow in charge of removing the heat. This numerical thermal study relies on a conjugated heat transfer analysis coupling a Finite Element solid thermal code (SYRTHES) and two instances of a Finite Volume CFD codes (Code_Saturne). Calculations on an initial design suggest that a simple center airpipe flow is likely to not sufficiently cool the device. Alternative solutions have been evaluated. Introduction of fins to enhance the heat transfer do not bring a noticeable improvement regarding maximum temperature reached. However, a solution in which the central pipe air flow is replaced by several cooling channels located closer to the fuel is investigated and suggests a better cooling.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work has received funding from the Euratom research and training program 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 847527. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.7541249" title = "doi:DOI 10.5281/zenodo.7541249">DOI 10.5281/zenodo.7541249.

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