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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

IMPROVEMENT IN THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF A NUCLEAR REACTOR BY LOCAL CHANGES IN SURFACE HEAT TRANSFER PROPERTIES

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4134061
Nuclear reactor performance may be improved by increasing the surface heat transfer coefficient, but only at the cost of an increase in pressure drop or pumping power. It is shown that the same improvements may also be obtained at reduced pumping power by using multiregion fuel channels, the surface heat transfer properties being gradually improved in the direction of flow. For instance, the maximum fuel temperature may be decreased by roughening the surface of the fuel elements in such a way as to double the surface heat transfer coefficient. The pumping power is usually tripled when the rod is completely roughened, but is could be only doubled by using a smooth rod at the cold end of the channel, then partially roughening it, and completely roughening it only at the hot end. (auth)
Research Organization:
General Atomic Div., General Dynamics Corp., San Diego, Calif.
NSA Number:
NSA-18-007905
OSTI ID:
4134061
Report Number(s):
GA-4619; CONF-187-29
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English