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Reducing sodium void worth on the passive response of 900-MW(thermal) liquid-metal-cooled reactors to various unprotected accidents

Conference · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)
OSTI ID:6669681
; ;  [1]
  1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
The passive response of four different configurations of a 900-MW(thermal) liquid-metal-cooled reactor (LMR) to two types of unprotected accidents has been studied. All four core designs utilize metallic fuel and a tightly coupled radially heterogeneous configuration; the core shape is varied such that the sodium void worth spanned a range of -3$ to +5$. The investigated accidents were a loss of flow (LOF) initiated by a loss of off-site power and a transient overpower (TOP) produced by control rod withdrawal, both with failure to scram. The object of the study was to assess the comparative potential of the various core designs to avoid damage to the core in response to unprotected accidents that do not progress into sodium boiling. Overall, it would appear that reducing the sodium void worth does not necessarily improve the transient response in all cases when no coolant boiling occurs. Based on the TOP results, the neutronically efficient designs with low irradiation reactivity loss may be preferable because the available reactivity insertion is small.
OSTI ID:
6669681
Report Number(s):
CONF-921102--
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 66
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English