Seismic Base Isolation Analysis for PASCAR Liquid Metal Reactor

This paper presents a study for developing a seismic isolation system for the PASCAR (Proliferation resistant, Accident-tolerant, Self-supported, Capsular and Assured Reactor) liquid metal reactor design. PASCAR use lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) as coolant. Because the density (10,000kg/m3) of LBE coolant is very heavier than sodium coolant and water, this presents a challenge to designers of the seismic isolation systems that will be used with these heavy liquid metal reactors. Finite element analysis is adapted to determine the characteristics of the isolator device. Results are presented from a study on the use of three-dimensional seismic isolation devices to the full-scale reactor. The seismic analysis responses of the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional isolation systems for the PASCAR are compared with that of the conventional fixed base system