Overview of Fuel Rod Simulator Usage at ORNL
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States)
- Delta-M Corporation, 1003 Larsen Drive, Oak Ridge, TN 37830 (United States)
During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) operated large out-of-reactor experimental facilities to resolve thermal-hydraulic safety issues in nuclear reactors. The fundamental research ranged from material mechanical behavior of fuel cladding during the depressurization phase of a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) to basic heat transfer research in gas- or sodium-cooled cores. The largest facility simulated the initial phase (less than 1 min. of transient time) of a LOCA in a commercial pressurized-water reactor. The nonnuclear reactor cores of these facilities were mimicked via advanced, highly instrumented electric fuel rod simulators locally manufactured at ORNL. This paper provides an overview of these experimental facilities with an emphasis on the fuel rod simulators.
- OSTI ID:
- 20632878
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 699, Issue 1; Conference: STAIF 2004: 21. symposium on space nuclear power and propulsion: Human space exploration, space colonization, new frontiers and future concepts, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 8-11 Feb 2004; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1649633; (c) 2004 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
CLADDING
DEPRESSURIZATION
FISSION
FUEL RODS
HEAT TRANSFER
LOSS OF COOLANT
NUCLEAR FUELS
ORNL
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES
REACTOR FUELING
REACTOR SAFETY
SIMULATION
SIMULATORS
SODIUM
SPACE POWER REACTORS
SPACE VEHICLES
TEST FACILITIES
THERMAL HYDRAULICS
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems