Thermal-hydraulic analysis of an innovative decay heat removal system for lead-cooled fast reactors

Improvement of safety requirements in GEN IV reactors needs more reliable safety systems, among which the decay heat removal system (DHR) is one of the most important. Complying with the diversification criteria and based on pure passive and very reliable components, an additional DHR for the ALFRED reactor (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator) has been proposed and its thermal-hydraulic performances are analyzed. It consists in a coupling of two innovative subsystems: the radiative-based direct heat exchanger (DHX), and the pool heat exchanger (PHX). Preliminary thermal-hydraulic analyses, by using RELAP5 and RELAP5-3D© computer programs, have been carried out showing that the whole system can safely operate, in natural circulation, for a long term. Sensitivity analyses for: the emissivity of the DHX surfaces, the PHX water heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and the lead HTC have been carried out. In addition, the effects of the density variation uncertainty on the results has been analyzed and compared. It allowed to assess the feasibility of the system and to evaluate the acceptable range of the studied parameters. A comparison of the results obtained with RELAP5 and RELAP5-3D© has been carried out and the analysis of the differences of the two codes for lead is presented. The features of the innovative DHR allow to match the decay heat removal performance with the trend of the reactor decay heat power after shutdown, minimizing at the same time the risk of lead freezing. This system, proposed for the diversification of the DHR in the LFRs, could be applicable in the other pool-type liquid metal fast reactors.