Natural convection heat transport in a small, HLMC reactor system

Concepts are being developed and evaluated at Argonne National Laboratory for a small nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) with proliferation-resistant features targeted for export to developing countries. Here the authors are specifically investigating how simple and compact such a system can be. A heavy-liquid-metal coolant (HLMC) is being considered owing to its excellent heat transport characteristics and its relative inertness with the reference thermodynamic working fluid (water/steam). The purpose of the present work is to explore the possibility to take advantage of these HLMC characteristics by eliminating the intermediate loop needed in sodium-cooled systems and additionally eliminating the primary system coolant pumps. The criteria imposed on the system include the following: (1) low power, i.e., 300 MW(thermal); (2) small size for factory fabrication and overland transportation; (3) elimination of fuel access at the site (no refueling, fuel shuffling, nor storage at site); integral fueled module replacement at 15-yr goal interval; and (4) completion of all research and development needed for detailed prototype design within 5 yr. To accomplish the latter requirement, the authors are addressing whether existing coolant and materials technology is capable of supporting the sought-after simplifications. In this regard, they are at present considering technology developed in Russia for Pb-Bi eutectic as a reactor coolant and ferritic-martensitic stainless steel with oxide-layer corrosion protection as cladding. The figure of merit in the investigation is the peak cladding temperature insofar as the cladding technology is considered proven to ∼600 C