Considering the importance of safety features in the development of Generation IV nuclear reactors, an innovative and passive decay heat removal system (DHRS) has been proposed for liquid metal cooled reactors. The attention is here focused on the direct heat exchanger (DHX) of the system constituted by a bayonet tube that allows to remove the decay heat from the primary coolant; both primary and secondary fluids flow in natural circulation. Since each bayonet tube is equipped with a vacuum gap, the most important heat transfer mechanism characterizing the DHX is radiation. Furthermore, the presence of the vacuum gap guarantees a physical separation and a complete decoupling between primary and secondary fluids, enhancing the safety features of the whole system. Several CFD analyses have been carried out in order to obtain a characterization of the DHX both for sodium and lead cooled fast reactors, in order to optimize the DHX geometry on the basis of the specific application, and the results are discussed in the paper. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Innovative radiation-based direct heat exchanger (DHX) for liquid metal cooled reactors / Andrea De, Santis; VITALE DI MAIO, Damiano; Caruso, Gianfranco; Fabio, Manni. - In: NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND DESIGN. - ISSN 0029-5493. - STAMPA. - 263:(2013), pp. 164-171. [10.1016/j.nucengdes.2013.04.021]
Innovative radiation-based direct heat exchanger (DHX) for liquid metal cooled reactors
VITALE DI MAIO, DAMIANO;CARUSO, Gianfranco;
2013
Abstract
Considering the importance of safety features in the development of Generation IV nuclear reactors, an innovative and passive decay heat removal system (DHRS) has been proposed for liquid metal cooled reactors. The attention is here focused on the direct heat exchanger (DHX) of the system constituted by a bayonet tube that allows to remove the decay heat from the primary coolant; both primary and secondary fluids flow in natural circulation. Since each bayonet tube is equipped with a vacuum gap, the most important heat transfer mechanism characterizing the DHX is radiation. Furthermore, the presence of the vacuum gap guarantees a physical separation and a complete decoupling between primary and secondary fluids, enhancing the safety features of the whole system. Several CFD analyses have been carried out in order to obtain a characterization of the DHX both for sodium and lead cooled fast reactors, in order to optimize the DHX geometry on the basis of the specific application, and the results are discussed in the paper. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
