Operational safety experience and passive safety testing at the FFTF
The FFTF is a 400-MWt sodium-cooled fast neutron flux test reactor located on the US government-owned Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. The reactor is operated for the US Department of Energy by the Westinghouse Hanford Company. Since FFTF started routine operation in 1982, the commercially fabricated driver fuel has performed flawlessly to well beyond the design goal peak burnup of 80 MWd/kgM. The core average discharge exposure is now some 60% beyond the original design expectations and attests to the ruggedness and reliability of the mixed oxide fuel system. In Cycle 9 sixteen long-life assemblies were installed to begin the irradiation of mixed oxides in the advanced low-swelling alloy HT-9 as the Core Demonstration Experiment (CDE). Operation of the plant from initial startup testing to ten cycles of operation has confirmed that the nuclear characteristics are well within the design predictions, and all parameters have remained inside the operating envelope defined by the Technical Specifications. Valuable experience has been gained in the identification and location of FFTF fuel assemblies containing a breached pin. Since the reactor began full-power operation in 1981, ten experimental fuel pin breaches have occurred and all were successfully identified. The principal objectives of the combined FFTF natural circulation and Passive Safety Testing program were: (1) to verify natural circulation as a reliable means to safely remove decay heat, (2) to extend passive safety experience to a large-size LMR and obtain data for validating design analysis computer codes, and (3) to develop and test passive safety enhancements that might be used for future LMRs.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-87RL10930
- OSTI ID:
- 6779484
- Report Number(s):
- WHC-SA-0259; CONF-8710279-2; ON: DE89000510
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: US/USSR joint committee meeting on experimental data and studies of core accident conditions, Argonne, IL, USA, 21 Oct 1987; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
FFTF REACTOR
REACTOR SAFETY
BURNUP
DESIGN
FUEL PINS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
NUMERICAL DATA
PERFORMANCE TESTING
REACTOR OPERATION
REACTOR START-UP
SPECIFICATIONS
DATA
ENERGY TRANSFER
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FLUID MECHANICS
FUEL ELEMENTS
INFORMATION
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
MECHANICS
OPERATION
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SAFETY
SODIUM COOLED REACTORS
START-UP
TEST REACTORS
TESTING
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
220600 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors