Research on structure selection and design of LBE-cooled fast reactor main coolant pump

Highlights: • The main coolant pump in the Generation IV of LFR is taken as the research object. • The hydraulic characteristics of the main coolant pump with double-outlet volute type and space guide vane type under normal operation and accident operation are compared and analyzed. • The space guide vane structure is determined as the design program of the main coolant pump of CLEAR-I fast reactor. Fast neutron reactor has become the preferred reactor type for advanced nuclear energy systems in the world, representing the development direction of the Generation IV nuclear energy system. The lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) uses pure Pb/LBE as coolant, the natural characteristics of lead alloy are combined with the structural design of LFR, which constitutes the inherent safety characteristics of LFR and the system. In this paper, the main coolant pump in the Generation IV of LFR is taken as the research object. According to the design requirements of the main coolant pump in LFR fast reactor, the hydraulic characteristics of the main coolant pump with double-outlet volute type and space guide vane type under normal operation and accident operation are compared and analyzed. It is found that, under normal pump conditions the hydraulic performance of double-outlet volute type main coolant pump is a slightly better, but the space guide vane type has obvious advantages in the ability to deal with accident conditions and the better reliability in its long-term operation. Finally, the space guide vane structure is determined as the design program of the main coolant pump of CLEAR-I fast reactor.