• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.537-556
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• 2005

A primary-pipe rupture accident is one of the design-basis accidents of a High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). When the primary-pipe rupture accident occurs, air is expected to enter the reactor core from the breach and oxidize in-core graphite structures. This paper describes an experiment and analysis of the air ingress phenomena and the method fur the prevention of air ingress into the reactor during the primary-pipe rupture accident. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental ones regarding the density of the gas mixture, the concentration of each gas species produced by the graphite oxidation reaction and the onset time of the natural circulation of air. A hydrogen production system connected to the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) Is being designed to be able to produce hydrogen by themo-chemical iodine-Sulfur process, using a nuclear heat of 10 MW supplied by the HTTR. The HTTR hydrogen production system is first connected to a nuclear reactor in the world; hence a permeation test of hydrogen isotopes through heat exchanger is carried out to obtain detailed data for safety review and development of analytical codes. This paper also describes an overview of the hydrogen permeation test and permeability of hydrogen and deuterium of Hastelloy XR.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1310-1319
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• 2024

The reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) is a passive reactor safety system commonly present in the designs of High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGR) that removes heat from the reactor pressure vessel by means of natural convection and radiation. It is one of the factors responsible for ensuring that the reactor does not melt down under any plausible accident scenario. For the simulation of accident scenarios, which are transient phenomena unfolding over a span of up to several days, intermediate fidelity methods and system codes must be employed to limit the models' execution time. These models can quantify radiation heat transfer well, but heat transfer caused by natural convection must be quantified with the use of correlations for the heat transfer coefficient. It is difficult to obtain reliable correlations for HTGR RCCS heat transfer coefficients experimentally due to such a system's size. They could, however, be obtained from high-fidelity steady-state simulations of RCCSs. The Rayleigh number in RCCSs is too high for using a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) technique; thus, a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach must be employed. There are many RANS models, each performing best under different geometry and fluid flow conditions. To find the most suitable one for simulating an RCCS, the RANS models need to be validated. This work benchmarks various RANS models against three experiments performed on the HTTR RCCS Mockup by the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in 1993. This facility is a 1/6 scale model of a vessel cooling system (VCS) for the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), which is operated by JAEA. Multiple RANS models were evaluated on a simplified 2d-axisymmetric geometry. They were found to reproduce the experimental temperature profiles with errors of up to 22% for the lowest temperature benchmark and 15% for the higher temperature benchmarks. The results highlight that the pragmatic turbulence models need to be validated for high Rayleigh natural convection-driven flows and improved accordingly, more publicly available experimental data of RCCS resembling experiments is needed and indicate that a 2d-axisymmetric geometry approximation is likely insufficient to capture all the relevant phenomena in RCCS simulations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.401-414
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• 2013

HTR50S is a small modular reactor system based on HTGR. It is designed for a triad of applications to be implemented in successive stages. In the first stage, a base plant for heat and power is constructed of the fuel proven in JAEA's $950^{\circ}C$, 30MWt test reactor HTTR and a conventional steam turbine to minimize development risk. While the outlet temperature is lowered to $750^{\circ}C$ for the steam turbine, thermal power is raised to 50MWt by enabling 40% greater power density in 20% taller core than the HTTR. However the fuel temperature limit and reactor pressure vessel diameter are kept. In second stage, a new fuel that is currently under development at JAEA will allow the core outlet temperature to be raised to $900^{\circ}C$ for the purpose of demonstrating more efficient gas turbine power generation and high temperature heat supply. The third stage adds a demonstration of nuclear-heated hydrogen production by a thermochemical process. A licensing approach to coupling high temperature industrial process to nuclear reactor will be developed. The low initial risk and the high longer-term potential for performance expansion attract development of the HTR50S as a multipurpose industrial or distributed energy source.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 2007

Design study on the Gas Turbine High Temperature Reactor 300-Cogeneration (GTHTR300C) aiming at producing both electricity by a gas turbine and hydrogen by a thermochemical water splitting method (IS process method) has been conducted. It is expected to be one of the most attractive systems to provide hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles after 2030. The GTHTR300C employs a block type Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) with thermal power of 600MW and outlet coolant temperature of $950^{\circ}C$. The intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) and the gas turbine are arranged in series in the primary circuit. The IHX transfers the heat of 170MW to the secondary system used for hydrogen production. The balance of the reactor thermal power is used for electricity generation. The GTHTR300C is designed based on the existing technologies of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) and helium turbine power conversion and on the technologies whose development have been well under way for IS hydrogen production process so as to minimize cost and risk of deployment. This paper describes the original design features focusing on the plant layout and plant cycle of the GTHTR300C together with present development status of the GTHTR300, IHX, etc. Also, the advantage of the GTHTR300C is presented.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.79-87
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• 2000

This paper describes experimental investigations of helium-air exchange flow through openings with vertical partitions. Such exchange flows may occur following rupture accident of stand pipe in high temperature gas cooled reactor. Exchange flow rates are investigated experimentally by using partitioned opening and opening with extended partition to assess fluids interference of the exchange flow at the stand pipe rupture accident. A tests vessel with the two types of opening on top of test cylinder is used in the experiments. An estimation method of mass increment is developed and applied to measure the exchange flow rate. A technique of flow visualization by Mach-Zehnder interferometer is provided to recognize the exchange flows. Amplitude and progress of interference fringes of the flows are observed and used as a support in comparison with the exchange flow rates. Flow passages of upward flow of the helium and downward flow of the air for both two types of the opening are separated by inserted partition within the opening, but in the case of partitioned opening, unseparated flow is formed at the opening entrance and the two flows interface. The exchange flow rate for the partitioned opening is not greater than that of the opening with extended partition because of the fluids interference at the entrance of opening. Finally, the fluids interference at the opening entrance is found to be one of important factors on the helium-air exchange flow rate.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2792-2800
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• 2022

In the core of the WWR-K reactor, a long-term irradiation of tristructural isotopic (TRISO)-coated fuel particles (CFPs) with a UO₂ kernel was carried out under high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR)-like operating conditions. The temperature of this TRISO fuel during irradiation varied in the range of 950-1100 ℃. A fission per initial metal atom (FIMA) of uranium burnup of 9.9% was reached. The release of gaseous fission products was measured in-pile. The release-to-birth ratio (R/B) for the fission product isotopes was calculated. Aspects of fuel safety while achieving deep fuel burnup are important and relevant, including maintaining the integrity of the fuel coatings. The main mechanisms of fuel failure are kernel migration, silicon carbide corrosion by palladium, and gas pressure increase inside the CFP. The formation of gaseous fission products and carbon monoxide leads to an increase in the internal pressure in the CFP, which is a dominant failure mechanism of the coatings under this level of burnup. Irradiated fuel compacts were subjected to electric dissociation to isolate the CFPs from the fuel compacts. In addition, nondestructive methods, such as X-ray radiography and gamma spectrometry, were used. The predicted R/B ratio was evaluated using the fission gas release model developed in the high-temperature test reactor (HTTR) project. In the model, both the through-coatings of failed CFPs and as-fabricated uranium contamination were assumed to be sources of the fission gas. The obtained R/B ratio for gaseous fission products allows the finalization and validation of the model for the release of fission products from the CFPs and fuel compacts. The success of the integrity of TRISO fuel irradiated at approximately 9.9% FIMA was demonstrated. A low fuel failure fraction and R/B ratios indicated good performance and reliability of the studied TRISO fuel.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.797-805
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• 2003

This paper describes experimental investigations of helium-air exchange flow through single opening and partitioned opening. Such exchange flows may occur following rupture accident of stand pipe in high temperature gas cooled reactor. A test vessel with a small opening on top of test cylinder is used for experiments. An estimation method of mass increment is developed and applied to measure the exchange flow rate. A technique of flow visualization by Mach-Zehnder interferometer is provided to recognize the exchange flows. Flow measurements are made with the opening, for partition ratios H_p/H$_1$$ in the range 0 to 1. where H_p$ and H$_1$ are partition length and height of the opening. respectively. In the case of H_p/H$_1$$ of 0, flow passages of upward flow of the helium and downward flow of the air within the opening are unseparated (bidirectional), and the two flows interfere within the opening. The unseparated flow increases strength of flow resistance and therefore, the exchange flow rate is minimum through range of the partition ratios. Two flow zones, i.e., separated (unidirectional) flow zone and unseparated (bidirectional) flow zone, exist with increasing the partition length. The exchange flow rate increases with increasing the separated flow zone. It is found that a maximum exchange flow rate exists at H_p/H$_1$$ of 1. As a result of comparison of the exchange flow rates by changing the partition ratio, the fluids Interference in the unseparated zone is found to be an important factor on the helium-air exchange flow rate.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.192-200
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• 1999

This paper describes experimental investigations of helium-air exchange flow through parti-tioned opening. Such exchange flow may occur following rupture accident of stand pipe in high temperature gas cooled reactor. A test vessel with a opening on top of test cylinder is used for experiments. An estimation method of mass increment is developed and applied to measure the exchange flow rate. A technique of flow visualization by Mach-Zehnder interferometer is provided to recognize the exchange flows. Flow measurements are made with partitioned opening for parti-tion rations $H_p/H_1$ in the range 0 to 1 where $H_p$ and $H_1$ are partition length and height of the open-ing respecticely. In the case of $H_p/H_1$ of 0 flow passages of upward flow of the helium and down-ward flow of the air within the opening are unseparated (bidirectional) and the two flows interact exchange flow rate is minimum through range of the partition ratios, Two flow zones i.e. separat-ed(unidirectional)flow zone and unseparated(bidirectional) flow zone exist with increasing the partition. length, The exchange flow rate increases with increasing the separated flow zone. It is found that a maximum exchange flow rate exists at $H_p/H_1$ of 1. As a result fo comparison of the exchange flow rates by changing the partition ration the fluids interaction in the unseparated zone is found to be an important factor on the helium-air exchange flow rate.