Experimental Investigations of Heat Transfer Upon Sodium Boiling in a Model Fuel Assembly for Safety Validation of an Advanced Fast Reactor

Abstract

A structural concept using a sodium cavity located above the core of a reactor is proposed as a means of preventing accidents resulting in the destruction of core elements. The experimental investigations of heat transfer performed on the AR-1 stand with boiling of sodium in a model fuel assembly of a fast reactor with a sodium cavity above the core in a regime with natural circulation have shown that long-time cooling of fuel assemblies is possible. The data obtained are used to refine the computational model of sodium boiling in fuel assemblies and to verify the COREMELT computational code.