Development and analysis of a metal-fueled accelerator-driven burner

Journal Article · Fri Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.49133· OSTI ID:21156131

Lypsch, F; Hill, R N ^[1]

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1. Institute for Safety Research and Reactor Technology, Research Centre Juelich, P.O. Box 1913, 52425 Juelich (Germany)

The purpose of this paper is to compare the safety characteristics of an accelerator driven metal-fueled fast system to a critical core on a consistent basis to determine how these characteristics are affected solely by subcriticality of the system. To accomplish this, an accelerator proton beam/tungsten neutron source model is surrounded by a subcritical blanket using metallic fuel and sodium as coolant. The consequences of typical accident transients, namely unprotected transient overpower (TOP), loss of heat sink (LOHS), and loss of flow (LOF) were calculated for the hybrid system and compared to corresponding results for a metal-fueled fast reactor. Results indicate that the subcritical system exhibits superior performance for TOP (reactivity-induced) transients; however, only in the critical system are reactivity feedbacks able to cause passive shutdown in the LOHS and LOF events. Therefore, for a full spectrum of accident initiators considered, the overall safety behavior of accelerator-driven metal-fueled systems can neither be concluded to be worse nor to be better than advanced reactor designs which rely on passive safety features.

• OSTI ID: 21156131
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 346; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ACCELERATOR DRIVEN TRANSMUTATION
ACCELERATORS
BEAM PRODUCTION
BREEDING BLANKETS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CRITICALITY
DESIGN
FAST REACTORS
HEAT SINKS
LIQUID METALS
LOSS OF FLOW
NEUTRON BEAMS
NEUTRON SOURCES
PROTON BEAMS
REACTIVITY
SODIUM
SUBCRITICAL ASSEMBLIES
TUNGSTEN