Design, development and testing of a sodium submersible Annular Linear Induction Pump for application in sodium cooled fast reactor

Abstract

A sodium submersible Annular Linear Induction Pump (ALIP) has been developed for sodium draining at temperatures of 200 °C from the main vessel of Indian fast reactors if situation warrants. This ALIP does not require any external cooling when submerged in sodium. Due to non-availability of sodium submersible pressure sensor, difficulty was felt in obtaining differential pressure vs flow characteristic of ALIP when it is submerged in sodium; hence ALIP performance evaluation was carried out in two phases. In phase-1, the developed ALIP was tested in a sodium loop at 200 °C for obtaining pump characteristics. In phase-2, ALIP was submerged in a sodium pool up to temperature of 550 °C and tested. The combination of tests in sodium submergence and non-submergence in the two phases gave full range of performance evaluation of the developed ALIP. Design, development and testing of a sodium submersible ALIP are enumerated in this paper.