A LUNAR POWER PLANT

A concept of a nuclear power plant to be assembled on earth and operated on the moon is presented. The two principal design objectives are reliability and high specific power. Wherever there is an incompatibility between these two objectives, the decision favors reliability. The design is based on the premise that the power plant must be designed on the basis of current technology and with a minimum amount of research and development. The principal components consist of a fast reactor in a direct cycle with a mercury-vapor turbine. The high- frequency generator, hydrogen compressor for the generator cooling system, mercury-recirculating pump, and condensate pump are on an extension of the turbine shaft. Ths mercury vapor is condensed and the hydrogen cooled in wing radiators. The reactor is of a construction quite similar to EBR-I Mark IlI for which there is a large amount of operating experience. The radiator is a vertical tube-and-fin type built in concentric cylindrical sections of increseing diameter. The curved headers are connected by swivel joints so that, upon arrival, the radiator can be quickly unfolded from the compact cylindrical package it formed during transportation. (auth

Scoping studies of vapor behavior during a severe accident in a metal-fueled reactor

Scoping calculations have been performed examining the consequences of fuel melting and pin failures for a reactivity-insertion type accident in a sodium-cooled, pool-type reactor fueled with a metal alloy fuel. The principal gas and vapor species released are shown to be Xe, Cs,and bond sodium contained within the fuel porosity. Fuel vapor pressure is insignificant, and there is no energetic fuel-coolant interaction for the conditions considered. Condensation of sodium vapor as it expands into the upper sodium pool in a jet mixing regime may occur as rapidly as the vapor emerges from the disrupted core (although reactor-material experiments are needed to confirm these high condensation rates). If the predictions of rapid direct-contact condensation can be verified experimentally for the sodium system, the implication is that the ability of vapor expansion to perform appreciable work on the system is largely eliminated. Furthermore, the ability of an expanding vapor bubble to transport fuel and fission product species to the cover gas region where they may be released to the containment is also largely eliminated. The radionuclide species except for fission gas are largely retained within the core and sodium pool

A PRELIMINARY DESIGN STUDY OF A BOILING SLURRY REACTOR EXPERIMENT

An experiment is described which would test the feasiits potential as a practical nuclear power reactor. The experiment would yield data and information on reactor stability and safety characteristics, performance parameters, feasible slurry concentration linnits, behavior of slurries under actual reactor operations, rates of radiolytic gas evolution, rates of fission gas release, etc. (auth

REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF SUPERCRITICAL WATER REACTOR TECHNOLOGY

Supercritical water-reactor design studies are reviewed. The status of supercritical water technology relative to heat transfer and fluid flow, water chemistry, internal deposition on heated surfaces, plant power cycles, and reactor construction materials is reviewed. The direct cycle was found to offer the highest probability for achieving economic power. (C.J.G.

Statistical evaluation of design-error related accidents

In a recently published paper (Campbell and Ott, 1979), a general methodology was proposed for the statistical evaluation of design-error related accidents. The evaluation aims at an estimate of the combined residual frequency of yet unknown types of accidents lurking in a certain technological system. Here, the original methodology is extended, as to apply to a variety of systems that evolves during the development of large-scale technologies. A special categorization of incidents and accidents is introduced to define the events that should be jointly analyzed. The resulting formalism is applied to the development of the nuclear power reactor technology, considering serious accidents that involve in the accident-progression a particular design inadequacy

Integral Fast Reactor concept inherent safety features

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) is an innovative liquid-metal-cooled reactor concept being developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The two major goals of the IFR development effort are improved economics and enhanced safety. The design features that together fulfill these goals are: (1) a liquid metal (sodium) coolant, (2) a pool-type reactor primary system configuration, (3) an advanced ternary alloy metallic fuel, and (4) an integral fuel cycle. This paper reviews the design features that contribute to the safety margins inherent to the IFR concept. Special emphasis is placed on the ability of the IFR design to accommodate anticipated transients without scram (ATWS)

LECTURE NOTES ON HEAT EXTRACTION FROM BOILING WATER POWER REACTORS

Calculation procedures for the thermal ard hydraulic performance of boiling reactors are outlined relative to boiling heat transfer, evaporator- condenser heat transfer, fuel element heat transfer, and steam heat transfer equations. Various engineering systems for evaluating the twophase pressure drop are given; the corrected MartinelliNelson method was found most adequate. Working curves for calculating velocity ratios and steam volume fractions are given which are accurate to within plus or minus 15%. Expressions are given for calculating pool ard film boiling and net and local boiling burnout for various geometrical arrangements. Calculation procedures are given for natural and forced circulation system analysis and compared to experimental data. Design criteria are discussed with calculation procedure given for the design parameters: moderafor to fuel ratio, critical maximum heat flux, vapor-liquid separation, and reactor geometry, natural vs. forced circulation. The calculation procedure is illustrated by a sample core analysis. The physical and thermodynamic properties of light and heavy water are given. (C.J.G.

Passive safety and the advanced liquid metal reactors

Advanced Liquid Metal Reactors being developed today in the USA are designed to make maximum use of passive safety features. Much of the LMR safety work at Argonne National Laboratory is concerned with demonstrating, both theoretically and experimentally, the effectiveness of the passive safety features. The characteristics that contribute to passive safety are discussed, with particular emphasis on decay heat removal systems, together with examples of Argonne's theoretical and experimental programs in this area