Recent Developments and Findings of Heat Pipe Experiments for Microreactor Applications

Yilgor, Ilyas; Sellers, Zachary D.; Hartvigsen, Jeremy L.; Sweetland, Katrina M.; Huang, Pei-Hsun; Ahn, Taehwan; Seo, Joseph; Manera, Annalisa; Petrov, Victor; Anderson, Mark; Hassan, Yassin; Shi, Shanbin; Sabharwall, Piyush

doi:10.1080/00295450.2024.2375488

Recent Developments and Findings of Heat Pipe Experiments for Microreactor Applications

Journal Article · Mon Jul 29 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Nuclear Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2375488· OSTI ID:2438432

^[1]; Sellers, Zachary D. ^[2]; ^[2]; Sweetland, Katrina M. ^[3]; Huang, Pei-Hsun ^[4]; Ahn, Taehwan ^[5]; Seo, Joseph ^[6]; Manera, Annalisa ^[5]; Petrov, Victor ^[5]; Anderson, Mark ^[7]; ^[6]; Shi, Shanbin ^[8]; ^[2]

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich (Switzerland); Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)
Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)

Microreactor technologies are required to provide reliable carbon-free power generation in remote applications. The heat pipe–cooled microreactor concept, in particular, offers notable advantages due to the passive operation of heat pipes, enabling increased reliability and simplicity in a more compact form factor. There is a significant need for experimental work to aid and expedite the deployment of heat pipe microreactors due to their unique technological characteristics. Thus, there has been increased interest in heat pipe experiments by numerous institutions in order to support these efforts. Finally, the present work is a comprehensive review of recent heat pipe experiments from six major institutions, describing their designs, instruments, methods, and results. In addition, this paper also presents a background on heat pipe experiments along with discussions on instrumentation, accident scenarios, wick enhancement, and proposed future directions.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 2438432

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU--24-79959-Rev000

Journal Information:: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 211; ISSN 0029-5450

Publisher:: Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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