High-Fidelity Modeling and Experiments to Inform Safety Analysis Codes for Heat Pipe Microreactors

Bourdot Dutra, Carolina da Silva; Merzari, Elia; Acierno, John; Kraus, Adam; Manera, Annalisa; Petrov, Victor; Ahn, Taehwan; Huang, Pei-Hsun; Shaver, Dillon

doi:10.1080/00295450.2023.2181040

High-Fidelity Modeling and Experiments to Inform Safety Analysis Codes for Heat Pipe Microreactors

Journal Article · Mon Apr 17 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Nuclear Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2181040· OSTI ID:2569706

^[1]; Merzari, Elia ^[2]; Acierno, John ^[1]; Kraus, Adam ^[1]; Manera, Annalisa ^[3]; Petrov, Victor ^[3]; Ahn, Taehwan ^[4]; Huang, Pei-Hsun ^[4]; Shaver, Dillon ^[5]

Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich (Switzerland); Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Heat pipe microreactors are reactor designs that primarily use liquid-metal heat pipes to cool the core. The main interest in heat pipes is the fact that they can remove heat passively. This, along with the use of liquid metal, allows the reactor to operate at higher temperatures. Although the use of heat pipes in nuclear reactors is new, liquid-metal heat pipe technology is mature. Nevertheless, experimental data on heat pipes are scarce, and very little is known about their behavior during abnormal operations and close to their thermal limits. Therefore, new experiments and accurate heat pipe simulations are needed to develop reliable closure models. This work describes a joint experimental and numerical investigation into heat pipes that attempts an initial closure of this gap. Further, the numerical and experimental efforts are currently proceeding in parallel, aimed at different aspects of heat pipes. The numerical part is focused on gaps in local closures, and the experiments capture the overall heat pipe behavior.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USNRC

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 2569706

Journal Information:: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 209; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN 1943-7471

Publisher:: Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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