Natural circulation capability of Pb-Bi cooled fast reactor: PEACER

Abstract

First-principle calculations were performed to analyze the natural circulation heat removal from the core of a liquid metal reactor (LMR). The lead-bismuth (Pb-Bi) was chosen as the primary coolant for the LMR system. From the single channel analysis the temperature and the pressure drop are calculated along the fuel assembly. The total pressure drop of the core is less than 100kPa due to the large pitch-to-diameter ratio and the small height of the fuel pin. The natural circulation potential is a key characteristics of the LMR design. The steady-state momentum and energy equations are solved along the primary coolant path. The calculations are divided into two parts: an analytical model and a one-dimensional lumped parameter flow loop model. Results of the analytical model indicate that the elevation difference of 4.5m between thermal centers of the core and the steam generators could remove as much as 10% of the nominal operating reactor power. The flow loop model yielded the total pressure drop and the natural circulation heat removal capacity.