Investigation of vessel exterior air cooling for an HLMC reactor
The secure transportable autonomous reactor (STAR) concept under development at Argonne National Laboratory provides a small [300-MW(thermal)] reactor module for steam supply that incorporates design features to attain proliferation resistance, heightened passive safety, and improved cost competitiveness through extreme simplification. Examples are the achievement of 100% + natural-circulation heat removal from the low-power-density/low-pressure-drop ultralong lifetime core and utilization of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) coolant enabling elimination of main coolant pumps as well as the need for an intermediate heat transport circuit. It is required to provide a passive means of removing decay heat and effecting reactor cooldown in the event that the normal steam generator heat sink, including its normal shutdown heat removal mode, is postulated to be unavailable. In the present approach, denoted as the reactor exterior cooling system (RECS), passive decay heat removal is provided by cooling the outside of the containment/guard vessel with air. RECS is similar to the reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system (RVACS) incorporated into the PRISM design. However, to enhance the heat removal, RECS incorporates fins on the containment vessel exterior to enhance heat transfer to air as well as removable steel venetian conductors that provide a conduction heat transfer path across the reactor vessel-containment vessel gap to enhance heat transfer between the vessels. The objective of the present work is to investigate the effectiveness of air cooling in removing heat from the vessel and limiting the coolant temperature increase following a sudden complete loss of the steam generator heat sink.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20104502
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 82; Conference: 2000 Annual Meeting - American Nuclear Society, San Diego, CA (US), 06/04/2000--06/08/2000; Other Information: PBD: 2000; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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