NUCLEAR SUPERHEAT PROJECT THIRD QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT, JANUARY-MARCH, 1960

Technical Report · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1960

OSTI ID:4027800

Pennington, R T

; 5 significant results by task is presented. Task A- Conceptual Design and Program Evaluation. Reactor design studies were directed toward continuation of economic evaluations of alternate fuel types and core arrangements. Results indicate that the realization of the potential of reduced power cost from the superheat concept are dependent on achievement of neutron economy comparable to boiling water reactors by reducing the stainless steel in the core and reducing moderator to fuel ratios, increasing power density in the superheated steam cooled region of the reactor, and utilization of the superheat reactor in relatively large nuclear power plants. Economic optimization study results indicated that the rod-type, lowenrichment ceramic UO/sub 2/ fuel for superheat application has about the same economic potential as the annular fuel concept. The annular fuel concept will be retained as the reference design superheat fuel concept because of expected lower fabrication costs and apparent advantages in reactor mechanical design. Nuclear physics studies were completed to evaluate the significance of reactivity changes due to flooding of the steam passages in an annular fuel element. Results indicate that there wall be a significant economic penalty if the moderator-to-fuel ratio is selected large enough to obtuin a fuel lattice with a negative boiling coefficient and a small flooding coefficient. For stainlesssteel-to-fuel ratios above 0.3, the penalty for high moderator to fuel ratio is small; but for stainless-steel-to-fuel ratios of 0.2, the fuel cost difference between moderatorto-fuel ratios of 2.6 and 2.0 may be as high as 0.1 mil/kw hr. Preliminary results are reported on the power plant characteristics for a 300-Mw(e) boiling water separate superheat power plant. Start-up, shut-down and control systems for a separate nuclear superheat plant are discussed. Task B- Fuel Technology. The results of postirradiation investigations on the first two SADE (Superheat Advance Demonatration Experiment) superheat fuel elements are reported in detail. It was found that the maximum capability of UO/sub 2/ in these exploratory experiments was not utilized indicating the desirability of increasing specific power in the annular fuel confignration. It was also found that oxidation rates in reactor superheated steam are comparable to non-nuclear environment, that hairline cracks found in the type 347 Stainless Steel cladding after irradiation indicate the necessity of careful non-destructive testing of as-received stainless tubing, and that flux traverses at inert spacers in the fuel element indicate relatively low (about 11%) axial flux peaking. The design of equipment and planning for the Trail Cable Capsule irradiation facility continued. The first GETR capsule with swaged over pellete was irradiated in GETR reactor. Out-of-pile, pressure collapse tests for thin stainless cladding were continued. Task C- Material Develepment. Specimens for tensile pull tests were prepared from the SH-2 fuel element. Tank D-- Experimental Physics. The design for the superheat fuel element for the critical experiment was completed. Specification for fuel and other required material was released for procurement. Task ECorrosion and Coolant Chemiatry. The modifications to the existing boiling water corrosion loop for superheated steam corrosion testing were completed. Additional measurements of activity levels from SADE loop are reported. Task FHeat Transfer. The installation of the test equipment for the once-through heat transfer experiment was completed. Task G- Mechanical Development. The open end two-arc steam separator was tested at the Moss Landing ateam separator test facility. The separator exhibited good performance on carryover and carryunder at 1000 psi, 150,000 lbs/hr at 4% to 8% by weight inlet quality. Results of mechanical seal developmert work are reported. At 1OOO psi, 545 deg F with 50 psi differential, " swage-type" and "butt

• Research Organization: General Electric Co. Atomic Power Equipment Dept., San Jose, Calif.
• DOE Contract Number: AT(04-3)-189
• NSA Number: NSA-15-016706
• OSTI ID: 4027800
• Report Number(s): GEAP-3468
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Project Agreement 13. Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-61
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
BOILING
BUCKLING
CERAMICS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONFIGURATION
CONTAMINATION
COOLANT LOOPS
CORROSION
CRACKS
ECONOMICS
ENRICHMENT
FABRICATION
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUELS
GETR
HEAT TRANSFER
IN PILE LOOPS
IRRADIATION
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURED VALUES
MODERATORS
NEUTRON FLUX
OXIDATION
PELLETS
PLANNING
RADIOACTIVITY
REACTOR CORE
REACTORS
SADE
STAINLESS STEELS
STEAM
SUPERHEATING
TENSILE PROPERTIES
URANIUM DIOXIDE
WATER COOLANT
ZONES