Comparison of Lead-Bismuth and Lead as Coolants for Accelerator Driven Systems

In the framework of the Italian research program TRASCO (TRAsmutazione SCOrie, namely transmutation of radioactive wastes) and of the European research program PDS-XADS (Preliminary Design Study on an eXperimental Accelerator Driven System) the feasibility and operability of gas or liquid metal cooled accelerator driven system prototypes are currently under investigation. Initially the attention of the thermal-hydraulics group of ENEA research centre in Bologna has been focussed toward a lead-bismuth cooled subcritical system under natural or enhanced natural circulation according to the prototype design proposed. The interest in using lead as a coolant, which is characterized by a higher melting point, is explained by the need to increase the plant efficiency for the economic competitiveness, though the higher temperatures pose some technological problems. Moreover, the amount of activation products should result significantly lower. Of course the results obtained and the experience gained analysing the dynamical behaviour of the lead-bismuth cooled system cannot be directly transferred to lead cooled systems. This paper aims at presenting a preliminary comparison of lead-bismuth and lead in a simplified liquid metal cooled subcritical system, mainly from the thermal-hydraulics and system dynamics points of view. By means of the modified RELAP5 version, the dynamical behavior of a lead-bismuth or lead cooled system, which is intended to be a quite accurate representation of the Italian accelerator driven prototype XADS, has been studied. Although a more exhaustive comparison should take into account the necessarily different structural characteristics of lead-bismuth and lead cooled systems, the neutronic feedback on reactor power and also the slightly different neutronic properties of lead-bismuth and lead, the purely thermal-hydraulic analysis presented in this paper has shown that the dynamical behaviour of the XADS does not differ noticeable when lead is used instead of lead-bismuth, even if the first presents a larger heat capacity. (authors)