An economical FBR concept: ARES

An innovative concept, ARES (Advanced Reactor Eliminating Secondary system), is proposed in this paper aiming at reducing the construction cost of a liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR). This concept is developed to show the ultimate cost down potential of LMFBRs at their commercial stage. The electrical output is 1000 MWe, while the thermal output is 2600 MWt. Main components of the sodium cooling system are four electromagnetic pumps (EMPs) and eight double-wall-tube steam generators (SGs). They are installed in a reactor vessel like the primary pumps and the intermediate heat exchangers of the pool type LMFBRs. In case of a water leak accident in an SG, the reactor core would be isolated by a cylindrical partition wall installed between the core and cooling components, and by reversed U shape pipings installed in the main EMPs. The possibility of the accident, however, is reduced to negligible level by the use of the double-walled heat transfer tubes. While the core is isolated, the decay heat is removed by four penetrating-type direct reactor auxiliary cooling systems (DRACSs) which have built-in pony EMPs respectively. Preliminary cost estimation has revealed that the construction cost of the second plant, namely the cost without the first-of-a-kind cost, could be reduced to 0.7 times as much as those of the light water reactors. (author)