Development of a Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis Code for an IHX-Combined Steam Generator with Serpentine Tube Bundles

An sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) can have enhanced safety features by using liquid sodium as a coolant, but there is concern about unexpected events coming from a sodium water reaction (SWR) in a Rankine cycle steam generator. Several prior researchers have suggested innovative concepts of the integrated type steam generators including an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) for the purpose of inherently elimination of SWR by employing intermediate fluid between liquid sodium and steam/water system. In this study, we propose a new IHX-combined steam generator with a serpentine tube configuration (Serpentine tube type IHX-Combined Steam Generator, S-ICSG), and reports the developed thermal-hydraulic analysis code for specific design evaluation of the S-ICSGs (SPINS-S, Sizing and Performance Analyzer for an Integrated Steam Generator – Serpentine tube arrangement). The new IHX-Combined Steam Generator concept having serpentine tube configuration (S-ICSG) was proposed in this work. It has the advantage of using the proven power conversion system of the existing Rankine cycle while it can prevent the SWR by adopting the inactive intermediate fluid with both sodium and water. We developed the thermal-hydraulic performance analysis code, and the test results were described.