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Title: Core cooling under accident conditions at the high-flux beam reactor

Conference · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)
OSTI ID:7168345
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
  2. Fauske and Associates, In., Burr Ridge, IL (United States)

The High-Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is cooled and moderated by heavy water and contains {sup 235}U in the form of narrow-channel, parallel-plate-type fuel elements. During normal operation, the flow direction is downward through the core. This flow direction is maintained at a reduced flow rate during routine shutdown and on loss of commercial power by means of redundant pumps and power supplies. However, in certain accident scenarios, e.g. loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs), all forced-flow cooling is lost. Although there was experimental evidence during the reactor design period (1958-1963) that the heat removal capacity in the fully developed natural circulation cooling mode was relatively high, it was not possible to make a confident prediction of the heat removal capacity during the transition from downflow to natural circulation. Accordingly, a test program was initiated using an electrically heated section to simulate the fuel channel and a cooling loop to simulate the balance of the primary cooling system.

OSTI ID:
7168345
Report Number(s):
CONF-911107-; CODEN: TANSA; TRN: 92-030838
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 63; Conference: 1991 Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) session on fundamentals of fusion reactor thermal hydraulics, San Francisco, CA (United States), 10-15 Nov 1991; ISSN 0003-018X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English