Acommodation of sodium spills with a cell drainage system in an LMFBR

As part of a series of feasibility studies conducted by Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation and Westinghouse Advanced Reactors Division, a Primary Heat Transport System cell's ability to accommodate potential large sodium spills was evaluated. In previous cell designs, the cell liner had to contain the spill indefinitely. In a new concept, sodium resulting from a large spill flows, by gravity, to a drain tank located below the cell floor. In this design, the cell liner no longer must be a high integrity sodium-leak tight liner. This paper describes this concept. It also discusses an analytical evaluation of the cell's ability to accommodate a large sodium spill; this evaluation was conducted using the CACECO and SPRAY computer codes