Conceptual design of a lead-bismuth cooled fast reactor with in-vessel direct-contact steam generation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (p. 357-366).The feasibility of a lead-bismuth (Pb-Bi) cooled fast reactor that eliminates the need for steam generators and coolant pumps was explored. The working steam is generated by direct contact vaporization of water and liquid metal in the chimney above the core and then is sent to the turbine. The presence of a lighter fluid in the chimney drives the natural circulation of the Pb- Bi within the reactor pool. Three key technical issues were addressed: 1) the maximum thermal power removable by direct contact heat transfer without violating the fuel, clad and vessel temperature limits, 2) the consequences of Pb-Bi aerosol transport on the design and operation of the turbine and 3) the release of radioactive polonium (a product of coolant activation) to the steam. Modeling of the multi-phase phenomena occurring in the chimney confirmed the effectiveness of the direct contact heat transfer mode within a well-defined design envelope for the reactor power, chimney height and steam superheat. A 1260MWth power is found possible for 10m chimney height and 25°C superheat. The temperature of the low-nickel steel clad is maintained below 600°C, which results in limited corrosion if tight control of the coolant oxygen concentration is adopted.Generation, transport and deposition of Pb-Bi aerosols were also modeled. It was found that the design of a chevron steam separator reduces the heavy liquid metal in the steam lines by about three orders of magnitude. Nevertheless, the residual Pb-Bi is predicted to cause embrittlement of the turbine blades. Four solutions to this problem were assessed: blade coating, employment of alternative materials, electrostatic precipitation and oxidation of the Pb-Bi droplets. An experimental campaign was conducted to investigate the polonium release from a hot Pb- Bi bath to a gas-streamn. Th thermodynamics of the polonium hydride formation reaction (free- energy vs. temperature). as welQ as the vapor pressure of the lead-polonide were measured and then utilized to model the polonium transport in the reactor. It was found that the polonium concentration in the steam and on the surface of the power cycle components is significantly above the acceptable limits, which makes the very concept of a direct contact reactor open to question.by Jacopo Buongiorno.Ph.D

Measurement of wetted area fraction in subcooled pool boiling of water using infrared thermography

The wetted area fraction in subcooled pool boiling of water at atmospheric pressure is measured using the DEPIcT (DEtection of Phase by Infrared Thermography) technique. DEPIcT exploits the contrast in infrared (IR) light emissions between wet and dry areas on the surface of an IR-transparent heater to visualize the instantaneous distribution of the liquid and gas phases in contact with the heater surface. In this paper time-averaged wetted area fraction data in nucleate boiling are reported as functions of heat flux (from 30% up to 100% of the Critical Heat Flux) and subcooling (ΔTsub = 0, 5, 10, 30 and 50 °C). The results show that the wetted area fraction monotonically decreases with increasing heat flux and increases with increasing subcooling: both trends are expected. The range of time-averaged wetted area fractions is from 90%, at low heat flux and high subcooling, to 50% at high heat flux (right before CHF) and low subcooling. It is also shown that the dry areas are periodically rewetted by liquid sloshing on the surface at any subcooling and heat flux; however, the dry areas expand irreversibly at CHF.MIT Energy Initiativ

An experimental study of bubble departure diameter in subcooled flow boiling including the effects of orientation angle, subcooling, mass flux, heat flux, and pressure

The effects of orientation angle, subcooling, heat flux, mass flux, and pressure on bubble departure diameter in the isolated bubble regime of subcooled flow boiling were studied by high-speed video in a two-phase flow loop that can accommodate a wide range of flow conditions. Specifically, the following ranges were explored: orientation angles of 0° (downward-facing horizontal), 30°, 45°, 60°, 90° (vertical), and 180° (upward-facing horizontal); mass flux values of 250, 300, 350, and 400 kg/m2 s, corresponding to Froude numbers between 0.42 and 1.06; pressures of 101 (atmospheric), 202, and 505 kPa; two values of the subcooling degrees (10 and 20 °C); and two heat fluxes (0.05 and 0.10 MW/m2). The combination of the test section design, high-speed video camera and LED lighting results in high accuracy (order of 20 μm) in the determination of the bubble departure diameter. The data indicate that the bubble departure diameter increases with increasing heat flux, decreasing mass flux, decreasing subcooling, and decreasing pressure. Also, the bubble departure diameter increases with decreasing orientation angle, i.e. the largest bubbles are found to detach from a downward-facing horizontal surface. The mechanistic bubble departure diameter model of Klausner et al. and its recent modification by Yun et al. were found to correctly predict all the observed parametric trends, but with large average errors and standard deviation: 65.5 ± 75.8% for Klausner's and 37.9 ± 51.2% for Yun's. Since the cube of the bubble departure diameter is used in subcooled flow boiling heat transfer models, such large errors are clearly unacceptable, and underscore the need for more accurate bubble departure diameter models.Douglas C. Spreng FundNuclear Energy Institut

Critical heat flux maxima during boiling crisis on textured surfaces

Enhancing the critical heat flux (CHF) of industrial boilers by surface texturing can lead to substantial energy savings and global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but fundamentally this phenomenon is not well understood. Prior studies on boiling crisis indicate that CHF monotonically increases with increasing texture density. Here we report on the existence of maxima in CHF enhancement at intermediate texture density using measurements on parametrically designed plain and nano-textured micropillar surfaces. Using high-speed optical and infrared imaging, we study the dynamics of dry spot heating and rewetting phenomena and reveal that the dry spot heating timescale is of the same order as that of the gravity and liquid imbibition-induced dry spot rewetting timescale. Based on these insights, we develop a coupled thermal-hydraulic model that relates CHF enhancement to rewetting of a hot dry spot on the boiling surface, thereby revealing the mechanism governing the hitherto unknown CHF enhancement maxima.MIT Shapiro FellowshipChevron CorporationKuwait-MIT Center for Natural Resources and the Environmen

DNS and LES of turbulent flow in a closed channel featuring a pattern of hemispherical roughness elements

Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) were performed for fully-developed turbulent flow in channels with smooth walls and walls featuring hemispherical roughness elements at shear Reynolds numbers Reτ = 180 and 400, with the goal of studying the effect of these roughness elements on the wall-layer structure and on the friction factor. The LES and DNS approaches were verified first by comparison with existing DNS databases for smooth walls. Then, a parametric study for the hemispherical roughness elements was conducted, including the effects of shear Reynolds number, normalized roughness height (k⁺ = 10–20) and relative roughness spacing (s⁺/k⁺ = 2–6). The sensitivity study also included the effect of distribution pattern (regular square lattice vs. random pattern) of the roughness elements on the walls. The hemispherical roughness elements generate turbulence, thus increasing the friction factor with respect to the smooth-wall case, and causing a downward shift in the mean velocity profiles. The simulations revealed that the friction factor decreases with increasing Reynolds number and roughness spacing, and increases strongly with increasing roughness height. The effect of random element distribution on friction factor and mean velocities is however weak. In all cases, there is a clear cut between the inner layer near the wall, which is affected by the presence of the roughness elements, and the outer layer, which remains relatively unaffected. The study reveals that the presence of roughness elements of this shape promotes locally the instantaneous flow motion in the lateral direction in the wall layer, causing a transfer of energy from the streamwise Reynolds stress to the lateral component. The study indicates also that the coherent structures developing in the wall layer are rather similar to the smooth case but are lifted up by almost a constant wall-unit shift y⁺(∼10–15), which, interestingly, corresponds to the relative roughness k⁺ = 10

Effects of porous superhydrophilic surfaces on flow boiling critical heat flux in IVR accident scenarios

Critical Heat Flux (CHF) plays a key role in nuclear reactor safety both during normal operation as well as in accident scenarios. In particular,when an in-vessel retention (IVR) strategy is used as a severe accident management strategy, the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) cavity is flooded with water, to remove the decay heat from the corium relocated in the lower plenum by conduction through the RPV wall and flow boiling on the outer surface of the RPV. The CHF limit must not be exceeded to prevent RPV failure.Therefore, knowledge of the CHF under realistic conditions is necessary to assess coolability margins. Previous studies for prediction of CHF in the IVR situation were mostly based on data for as fabricated un-oxidized stainless steel. However, the RPV is made of low carbon steel and its surface has an oxide layer that results from pre-service heat treatment as well as oxidation during service. This oxide layer introduces significant differences in surface wettability, porosity, and roughness in comparison to an un-oxidized stainless steel surface. In this study, test heaters were fabricated out of RPV low carbon steel, pre-oxidized in a controlled high temperature wet air environment, which emulates the surface oxides present on the outer surface of the actual RPV; the heaters were then tested in a flow boiling loop designed specifically for the IVR conditions. Up to 70% enhancement in CHF value was observed for the oxidized in low carbon steel in comparison to the stainless steel

Experimental investigation of transient critical heat flux of water-based zinc–oxide nanofluids

Pool boiling experiments were conducted for sandblasted stainless steel (grade 316) plate heaters submerged in deionized (DI) water and water-based zinc–oxide nanofluid, for transient heat flux conditions with power through the heaters increasing quadratically with time. Heat flux in the experiments was increased from zero to CHF in short time frames of 1, 10 and 100 s. Consistent with previous studies, transient CHF for DI water was higher than steady state CHF, and CHF increased with decreasing duration of the transient. Additionally, it was observed that for nanofluid tests, a porous and hydrophilic nanoparticle layer started to deposit on the heater surface in short time frames of 10 and 100 s, and this layer was responsible for the enhanced CHF compared to DI water. However, for the 1 s tests, nanoparticle deposition did not occur and consequently the CHF was not enhanced. Finally, experiments with heaters pre-coated with nanoparticles were performed and it was found that CHF was enhanced for all transient durations down to 1 s, establishing firmly that the CHF enhancement occurs due to surface modifications by the deposited nanoparticles, and not by nanoparticles suspended in solution.AREVA Inc. Nuclear Parts Cente

Measurement and Model Validation of Nanofluid Specific Heat Capacity with Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Nanofluids are being considered for heat transfer applications; therefore it is important to know their thermophysical properties accurately. In this paper we focused on nanofluid specific heat capacity. Currently, there exist two models to predict a nanofluid specific heat capacity as a function of nanoparticle concentration and material. Model I is a straight volume-weighted average; Model II is based on the assumption of thermal equilibrium between the particles and the surrounding fluid. These two models give significantly different predictions for a given system. Using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), a robust experimental methodology for measuring the heat capacity of fluids, the specific heat capacities of water-based silica, alumina, and copper oxide nanofluids were measured. Nanoparticle concentrations were varied between 5 wt% and 50 wt%. Test results were found to be in excellent agreement with Model II, while the predictions of Model I deviated very significantly from the data. Therefore, Model II is recommended for nanofluids

Technology Selection for Offshore Underwater Small Modular Reactors

AbstractThis work examines the most viable nuclear technology options for future underwater designs that would meet high safety standards as well as good economic potential, for construction in the 2030–2040 timeframe. The top five concepts selected from a survey of 13 nuclear technologies were compared to a small modular pressurized water reactor (PWR) designed with a conventional layout. In order of smallest to largest primary system size where the reactor and all safety systems are contained, the top five designs were: (1) a lead–bismuth fast reactor based on the Russian SVBR-100; (2) a novel organic cooled reactor; (3) an innovative superheated water reactor; (4) a boiling water reactor based on Toshiba's LSBWR; and (5) an integral PWR featuring compact steam generators. A similar study on potential attractive power cycles was also performed. A condensing and recompression supercritical CO2 cycle and a compact steam Rankine cycle were designed. It was found that the hull size required by the reactor, safety systems and power cycle can be significantly reduced (50–80%) with the top five designs compared to the conventional PWR. Based on the qualitative economic consideration, the organic cooled reactor and boiling water reactor designs are expected to be the most cost effective options

Effects of Hydrophobic Surface Patterning on Boiling Heat Transfer and Critical Heat Flux of Water at Atmospheric Pressure

The effects of hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface patterning on critical heat flux (CHF) and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) were studied using custom-engineered testing surfaces. Patterning was created over a sapphire substrate and tested in a pool boiling facility in MITs Reactor Hydraulics Laboratory. The hydrophilic and hydrophobic matrices were created using layer by layer deposition of 50 nm thick SiO2 nanoparticles and monolayer thickness fluorosilane, respectively. Ultraviolet ozone patterning was then used with chrome-printed masks to create the desired geometric features. Hexagon, ring, star, and mixed patterns were tested to determine their abilities to affect CHF and HTC through prevention of bubble pinning at high heat fluxes. During testing, an infrared camera was used to measure the surface temperature distribution as well as locate nucleation sites for data analysis. It was found that CHF values were enhanced over the bare sapphire values by approximately 90% for hexagons, 60% for stars, 65% for rings, and 50% for mixed patterns. Contrary to expectations, patterning did not seem to affect the HTC values significantly. Although patterning did improve CHF performance over bare heaters, both CHF and HTC were found to be statistically similar to those for unpatterned, uniformly hydrophilic surfaces. Copyright © 2013 by ASME