skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Interim status report on lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) research and development.

Abstract

This report discusses the status of Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) research and development carried out during the first half of FY 2008 under the U.S. Department of Energy Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Initiative. Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor research and development has recently been transferred from Generation IV to the Reactor Campaign of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Another status report shall be issued at the end of FY 2008 covering all of the LFR activities carried out in FY 2008 for both Generation IV and GNEP. The focus of research and development in FY 2008 is an initial investigation of a concept for a LFR Advanced Recycling Reactor (ARR) Technology Pilot Plant (TPP)/demonstration test reactor (demo) incorporating features and operating conditions of the European Lead-cooled SYstem (ELSY) {approx} 600 MWe lead (Pb)-cooled LFR preconceptual design for the transmutation of waste and central station power generation, and which would enable irradiation testing of advanced fuels and structural materials. Initial scoping core concept development analyses have been carried out for a 100 MWt core composed of sixteen open-lattice 20 by 20 fuel assemblies largely similar to those of the ELSY preconceptual fuel assembly design incorporating fuel pins with mixed oxide (MOX)more » fuel, central control rods in each fuel assembly, and cooled with Pb coolant. For a cycle length of three years, the core is calculated to have a conversion ratio of 0.79, an average discharge burnup of 108 MWd/kg of heavy metal, and a burnup reactivity swing of about 13 dollars. With a control rod in each fuel assembly, the reactivity worth of an individual rod would need to be significantly greater than one dollar which is undesirable for postulated rod withdrawal reactivity insertion events. A peak neutron fast flux of 2.0 x 10{sup 15} (n/cm{sup 2}-s) is calculated. For comparison, the 400 MWt Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) achieved a peak neutron fast flux of 7.2 x 10{sup 15} (n/cm{sup 2}-s) and the initially 563 MWt PHENIX reactor attained 2.0 x 10{sup 15} (n/cm{sup 2}-s) before one of three intermediate cooling loops was shut down due to concerns about potential steam generator tube failures. The calculations do not assume a test assembly location for advanced fuels and materials irradiation in place of a fuel assembly (e.g., at the center of the core); the calculations have not examined whether it would be feasible to replace the central assembly by a test assembly location. However, having only fifteen driver assemblies implies a significant effect due to perturbations introduced by the test assembly. The peak neutron fast flux is low compared with the fast fluxes previously achieved in FFTF and PHENIX. Furthermore, the peak neutron fluence is only about half of the limiting value (4 x 10{sup 23} n/cm{sup 2}) typically used for ferritic steels. The results thus suggest that a larger power level (e.g., 400 MWt) and a larger core would be better for a TPP based upon the ELSY fuel assembly design and which can also perform irradiation testing of advanced fuels and materials. In particular, a core having a higher power level and larger dimensions would achieve a suitable average discharge burnup, peak fast flux, peak fluence, and would support the inclusion of one or more test assembly locations. Participation in the Generation IV International Forum Provisional System Steering Committee for the LFR is being maintained throughout FY 2008. Results from the analysis of samples previously exposed to flowing lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) in the DELTA loop are summarized and a model for the oxidation/corrosion kinetics of steels in heavy liquid metal coolants was applied to systematically compare the calculated long-term (i.e., following several years of growth) oxide layer thicknesses of several steels.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
943424
Report Number(s):
ANL-GENIV-101
TRN: US0900423
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Subject:
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; BUILDING MATERIALS; BURNUP; CONTROL ELEMENTS; CONVERSION RATIO; FAST REACTORS; FERRITIC STEELS; FFTF REACTOR; FUEL ASSEMBLIES; FUEL PINS; HEAVY METALS; IRRADIATION; LIMITING VALUES; LIQUID METALS; NEUTRON FLUENCE; NUCLEAR ENERGY; PHENIX REACTOR; PILOT PLANTS; POWER GENERATION; REACTIVITY INSERTIONS; REACTIVITY WORTHS; STEAM GENERATORS; STEELS; TEST REACTORS

Citation Formats

Tzanos, C P, Sienicki, J J, Moisseytsev, A, Smith, C F, de Caro, M, Halsey, W G, Li, N, Hosemann, P, Zhang, J, Bolind, A, LLNL,, LANL,, and Univ. of Illinois. Interim status report on lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) research and development.. United States: N. p., 2008. Web. doi:10.2172/943424.
Tzanos, C P, Sienicki, J J, Moisseytsev, A, Smith, C F, de Caro, M, Halsey, W G, Li, N, Hosemann, P, Zhang, J, Bolind, A, LLNL,, LANL,, & Univ. of Illinois. Interim status report on lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) research and development.. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/943424
Tzanos, C P, Sienicki, J J, Moisseytsev, A, Smith, C F, de Caro, M, Halsey, W G, Li, N, Hosemann, P, Zhang, J, Bolind, A, LLNL,, LANL,, and Univ. of Illinois. 2008. "Interim status report on lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) research and development.". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/943424. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/943424.
@article{osti_943424,
title = {Interim status report on lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) research and development.},
author = {Tzanos, C P and Sienicki, J J and Moisseytsev, A and Smith, C F and de Caro, M and Halsey, W G and Li, N and Hosemann, P and Zhang, J and Bolind, A and LLNL, and LANL, and Univ. of Illinois},
abstractNote = {This report discusses the status of Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) research and development carried out during the first half of FY 2008 under the U.S. Department of Energy Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Initiative. Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor research and development has recently been transferred from Generation IV to the Reactor Campaign of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Another status report shall be issued at the end of FY 2008 covering all of the LFR activities carried out in FY 2008 for both Generation IV and GNEP. The focus of research and development in FY 2008 is an initial investigation of a concept for a LFR Advanced Recycling Reactor (ARR) Technology Pilot Plant (TPP)/demonstration test reactor (demo) incorporating features and operating conditions of the European Lead-cooled SYstem (ELSY) {approx} 600 MWe lead (Pb)-cooled LFR preconceptual design for the transmutation of waste and central station power generation, and which would enable irradiation testing of advanced fuels and structural materials. Initial scoping core concept development analyses have been carried out for a 100 MWt core composed of sixteen open-lattice 20 by 20 fuel assemblies largely similar to those of the ELSY preconceptual fuel assembly design incorporating fuel pins with mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, central control rods in each fuel assembly, and cooled with Pb coolant. For a cycle length of three years, the core is calculated to have a conversion ratio of 0.79, an average discharge burnup of 108 MWd/kg of heavy metal, and a burnup reactivity swing of about 13 dollars. With a control rod in each fuel assembly, the reactivity worth of an individual rod would need to be significantly greater than one dollar which is undesirable for postulated rod withdrawal reactivity insertion events. A peak neutron fast flux of 2.0 x 10{sup 15} (n/cm{sup 2}-s) is calculated. For comparison, the 400 MWt Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) achieved a peak neutron fast flux of 7.2 x 10{sup 15} (n/cm{sup 2}-s) and the initially 563 MWt PHENIX reactor attained 2.0 x 10{sup 15} (n/cm{sup 2}-s) before one of three intermediate cooling loops was shut down due to concerns about potential steam generator tube failures. The calculations do not assume a test assembly location for advanced fuels and materials irradiation in place of a fuel assembly (e.g., at the center of the core); the calculations have not examined whether it would be feasible to replace the central assembly by a test assembly location. However, having only fifteen driver assemblies implies a significant effect due to perturbations introduced by the test assembly. The peak neutron fast flux is low compared with the fast fluxes previously achieved in FFTF and PHENIX. Furthermore, the peak neutron fluence is only about half of the limiting value (4 x 10{sup 23} n/cm{sup 2}) typically used for ferritic steels. The results thus suggest that a larger power level (e.g., 400 MWt) and a larger core would be better for a TPP based upon the ELSY fuel assembly design and which can also perform irradiation testing of advanced fuels and materials. In particular, a core having a higher power level and larger dimensions would achieve a suitable average discharge burnup, peak fast flux, peak fluence, and would support the inclusion of one or more test assembly locations. Participation in the Generation IV International Forum Provisional System Steering Committee for the LFR is being maintained throughout FY 2008. Results from the analysis of samples previously exposed to flowing lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) in the DELTA loop are summarized and a model for the oxidation/corrosion kinetics of steels in heavy liquid metal coolants was applied to systematically compare the calculated long-term (i.e., following several years of growth) oxide layer thicknesses of several steels.},
doi = {10.2172/943424},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/943424}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2008},
month = {Mon Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2008}
}