Inherent Prevention and Mitigation of Severe Accident Consequences in Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors
Safety challenges for sodium-cooled fast reactors include maintaining core temperatures within design limits and assuring the geometry and integrity of the reactor core. Due to the high power density in the reactor core, heat removal requirements encourage the use of high-heat-transfer coolants such as liquid sodium. The variation of power across the core requires ducted assemblies to control fuel and coolant temperatures, which are also used to constrain core geometry. In a fast reactor, the fuel is not in the most neutronically reactive configuration during normal operation. Accidents leading to fuel melting, fuel pin failure, and fuel relocation can result in positive reactivity, increasing power, and possibly resulting in severe accident consequences including recriticalities that could threaten reactor and containment integrity. Inherent safety concepts, including favorable reactivity feedback, natural circulation cooling, and design choices resulting in favorable dispersive characteristics for failed fuel, can be used to increase the level of safety to the point where it is highly unlikely, or perhaps even not credible, for such severe accident consequences to occur.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1021474
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-11-22928; TRN: US1103993
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 4; ISSN 0022--3131
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ACCIDENTS
CONFIGURATION
CONTAINMENT
COOLANTS
DESIGN
FAST REACTORS
FEEDBACK
FUEL PINS
GEOMETRY
MELTING
MITIGATION
NATURAL CONVECTION
POWER DENSITY
REACTOR CORES
REMOVAL
SAFETY
SODIUM
inherent
metallic fuel
mitigation
prevention
safety
severe accidents
sodium fast reactor