GAS COOLED, MOLTEN SALT HEAT EXCHANGER--DESIGN STUDY
BS> One of the major problems in the economic evaluation of the application of forced circulation, gas cooling to high temperature, molten salt power reactor systems is the definition of the required heat transfer equipment, its size and operating cost. A design study of the saltto-gas heat exchangers for such a gas-cooled system has recently been completed, and the results are reported. Helium, hydrogen, and steam are considered as coolants. The effects of varying heat exchanger tubing size, coolant inlet temperature, coolant pressure level, allowable salt pressure drop and uranium enrichment of the molten salt are demonstrated. The relationship between heat exchanger dimensions, fuel inventory and blower power requirements is presented in graphical form for the most pertinent cases. Comparisons are made of annual operating costs and heat exchanger over-all size as a function of coolant type and operating conditions. Hydrogen is shown to be the most effective of the coolants considered, with steam and helium being roughly comparable. Assuming other conditions to be equal, helium can be made competitive with hydrogen by operating with a 50 tc 60% higher helium temperature gradient through the heat exchanger. Optimum heat exchanger geometries based on gas blower costs and enriched fuel inventory charges require a total blower power investment of approximately 0.5% of the plant gross electrical output. However, substantial reductions in heat exchanger size can be realized by going to higher blower power investment levels. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-26
- NSA Number:
- NSA-13-001835
- OSTI ID:
- 4299382
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL-2605
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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