Status of Lead-cooled Fast Reactor GIF – LFR Activities

9th GIF-IAEA Interface Meeting IAEA Headquarters, Vienna, 4-5 March 2015 Meeting Room: C0343

Alessandro Alemberti

EURATOM

on behalf of

GIF – LFR – pSSC

Presented by: Kamil Tuček (EURATOM)

Slide 2

OUTLINE

Three GIF–LFR Reference Systems

Status of Main Activities of LFR Provisional SSC (pSSC)

New Members of LFR pSSC

Status of LFR Development in MoU countries / entities

JAPAN

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

EURATOM

Slide 3

GIF–LFR REFERENCE SYSTEMS

Three reference systems of GIF–LFR are:

ELFR (600 MWe), BREST (300 MWe), and SSTAR (small size)

Members (MoU) of provisional System Steering Committee: EURATOM, RUSSIA, JAPAN

Observers to pSSC activities: USA, Korea, China

1

2

3

4

5

1 - Core

2 - Steam Generator

3 - Pump

4 - Refueling Machine

5 - Reactor Vault

CLOSURE HEAD

CO 2 INLET NOZZLE

(1 OF 4)

CO2 OUTLET NOZZLE

(1 OF 8)

Pb-TO-CO2 HEAT

EXCHANGER (1 OF 4)

ACTIVE CORE AND

FISSION GAS PLENUM

RADIAL REFLECTOR

FLOW DISTRIBUTOR

HEAD

FLOW SHROUDGUARD

VESSEL

REACTOR

VESSEL

CONTROL

ROD

DRIVES

CONTROL

ROD GUIDE

TUBES AND

DRIVELINES

THERMAL

BAFFLE

ELFR

system for central station

power generation

BREST

system of

intermediate size

SSTAR

system of small size

with long core life

SG

Reactor Vessel

Safety Vessel

DHR dip cooler

FAs

Primary Pump

Slide 4

Status of the main activities: SRP, White Paper, SDC, ToR

• SYSTEM RESEARCH PLAN (SRP):

Substantial revision of SRP was started by mid-2012 and is now completed. Final draft

of SRP has been issued by pSSC and the report is currently being reviewed by EG

• LFR White Paper on safety: Review of White Paper on safety (based on ALFRED as

an example of an LFR to apply ISAM to) was completed by EG. The final version of

the paper has already been published on the GIF web-site by RSWG

• LFR – Safety Design Criteria:

Safety Design Criteria (SDC) for LFR will be developed on the basis of SDC for SFRs

Work is still ongoing, first draft is expected to be available by spring 2015

• GIF–LFR abstract was sent to GIF Symposium held in conjunction with the ICONE23

conference in Japan (May 2015)

• Preparation of draft “Terms of reference for GIF system safety assessment” is

currently ongoing and the draft is expected to be available shortly (by March 2015)

• 2014 Annual report was sent to the GIF Secretariat in the first week of December

• Revision of LFR information on the GIF web-site will be available by spring 2015

Slide 5

Two new members of LFR pSSC

• RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Valery Smirnov (NIKIET) replaced by Andrei Moissev (NIKIET)

• EURATOM

Didier Haas (JRC) replaced by Kamil Tuček (JRC)

The LFR-pSSC participants expressed their gratitude for the work

performed by Valery and Didier and for the friendly relationship

established

A warm welcome in the group to Andrei and Kamil

Slide 6

Although activities on LFRs are limited in Japan, basic R&D is carried out at the

Tokyo Institute of Technology to support LFR technology development.

Two examples are given below:

JAPAN

Burn-out of heater pin

Investigations at Tokyo Institute of Technology

Experimental facility to investigate flow boiling

Slide 7

Development and testing of reliable oxygen control systems for conditioning

and maintenance of a required level of dissolved oxygen in heavy liquid

metals. Systems featuring either some suitable gas mixtures or solid Pb

oxide (PbO) are investigated:

JAPAN

Investigations at Tokyo Institute of Technology

Slide 8

Main Coolant Pump

Steam Generator Vessel Core

Configuration Pool

Thermal power, MW 700

Electric power, MW 300

Fuel (U,Pu)N

Steam production rate, no less than, t/hour 1480

Coolant of the primary circuit Lead

Gas pressure above the lead level:

– exceed, MPa

– maximal, MPa

0.003–0.008

0.02

Average temperature of the lead coolant at

the active zone inlet / outlet, °С 420 / 540

Average temperature of the water coolant

at the steam generator inlet / outlet, °С 340 / 505

Loop number 4

FA number in the active zone 169

Core height, mm 1100

Fuel load, t 20.6

Fuel campaign, years 5

Discharge burn-up of fuel (max./av.), % HM 9.0 / 5.5

Average Conversion Ratio (CR) ~ 1.05

Operating reactivity margin at Pnom < 1 beff

Collector

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

BREST–OD–300: Key components and technical characteristics

Control

and safety

rod drives

Slide 9

Results: Tests were performed on short-term mechanical properties of the concrete,

methods were developed for basic thermal-mechanical strength analysis, mockup of

the vessel bottom was set up, and recommendations on the concrete drying modes

were developed

Additional results expected on: Mechanical (including after irradiation) and thermal

physical properties of the selected concrete compounds, regarding thermal

conductivity coefficients in the concrete filler, as well as experimentally determined

temperature profiles for verification of computational methods. Mounting, filling and

drying technologies for the reactor vessel are also being further developed.

Vessel Vessel bottom mockup Concrete species

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Computational and experimental qualification of reactor vessel

(steel-lined, thermally insulated concrete vault)

Slide 10

BREST–OD–300 SCHEDULE:

Design completed 2014

License approval 2015

Start of construction 2016

Commissioning 2020-2022

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Slide 11

FRONT END ENGINEERING AND DESIGN (FEED)

CONTRACT FOR MYRRHA - STARTED IN OCTOBER 2013

Consortium: Areva TA (leader) – France, Ansaldo Nucleare S.p.A. – Italy,

Empresarios Agrupados – Spain, Grontmij Industries – Belgium

Content: Technical design of the infrastructure except for: Primary

System, Accelerator, Spent Fuel Building, Remote Handling

SYSTEMS CONSIDERED IN FEED INCLUDE FOR EXAMPLE:

• Secondary Cooling System, Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling

System (RVACS), Cover Gas, LBE Conditioning System, etc.

• Safety, System Integration, and Plant Lay-out are also included

In 2015, activities on MYRRHA encompass:

• Design review of primary side (in the first half of 2015 by SCK•CEN)

• Investigation on introduction of double-tube HX (minimizing risk for SGTR)

• Related to this design change, Functional Specifications for all components and

Technical Specifications of non-impacted FEED systems were issued in

December 2014

• Second phase of FEED is expected to start in September 2015

EURATOM

Slide 12

STATUS OF ACTIVITIES IN EUROPE

W-DHR SG

Primary

Pump

Core

Safety

Vessel

Vessel

Inner Vessel

FAs

ELFR ALFRED

ELFR is one of the reference LFR

systems in GIF

Power: 1500 MWth (630 MWe)

Primary cycle : 400-480°C

Secondary cycle 335-450°C, 18MPa Power: 300 MWth (125 MWe)

EURATOM FP7 Project LEADER (Apr. 2010 – Sept. 2013) developed conceptual designs of

ELFR and ALFRED: ELFR as reference industrial plant & ALFRED as LFR Demonstrator

ALFRED Consortium Agreement was

signed in December 2013

EURATOM

Slide 13

FALCON (Fostering ALfred CONstruction) Consortium has been established on December

18th, 2013 by: Ansaldo Nucleare, ENEA, and RATEN-ICN

The aim is to constitute a network of organizations interested in the LFR technology

development and, as a closer goal, committed to ALFRED construction

Reference site for construction of ALFRED is Mioveni (Romania)

EU Organizations are invited to join FALCON through a

technical cooperation agreement (MoA)

For the MoA the interested organization can:

• Contact one of the FALCON members

• Agree on a technical activities program

• Sign the MoA with the FALCON member

All contributions are expected to be of an in-kind nature

EURATOM – ALFRED and FALCON

In December 2014,

CV-REZ joined

FALCON and is now a

full member of the

Consortium

FALCON NEW MEMBER:

MoA Status:

CRS4 (Sardinia - Italy) – MoA signed – activity started

SRS (Rome, Italy) – MoA signed

Symlog (France) – MoA signed

CIRTEN (Consortium of Universities, Italy) – MoA signed

NRG (Petten, The Netherlands) – final text of MoA agreed

IIT (Milan, Italy) – activity Agreed – under signature

KIT (Karlsruhe, Germany) – activity Agreed – under signature

GRS (TSO, Germany) – contacts ongoing

Slide 14

LEADER–BREST Cooperation Agreement

In May 2014, a Cooperation

Agreement (CooA) was signed

between Ansaldo Nucleare, as the

coordinator of the LEADER project,

and OJSC NIKIET, as the coordinator

of the BREST project

The CooA aims at the exchange of

information between the two projects

on 7 main topics:

Topic 1: Conceptual design of LFR at various power sizes and for various purposes

Topic 2: Approaches and methods for ensuring nuclear reactor safety

Topic 3: Computational and exp. studies of neutron and physical characteristics of the LFR

Topic 4: Computer and exp. study of thermal and hydraulic characteristics of elements of

the active core, steam generator and flow pattern in the reactor

Topic 5: Investigation on available materials compatible with lead coolant and possible

approaches for corrosion control/reduction

Topic 6: Long-term impact on nuclear fuel cycle highlighting advantages and

environmental effects

Topic 7: Education and training: Provide a framework to grow the skills of the young

generation of engineers and scientist on LFR technology

A number of meetings dedicated to information exchange among experts will be organized.

The first meeting is expected during spring 2015.

Slide 15

Thank you for your attention

16th LFR Prov. SSC Meeting Hefei – China December 10-12, 2014