Conceptual issues of the cold filter trap development for the sodium coolant purification in fast-neutron reactors

Abstract

The paper presents the results of studying the peculiarities of heat and mass exchange in cold traps for the sodium purification of impurities in fast reactor circuits both in dedicated test areas simulating various trap components (isothermal sump, nonisothermal sump, filters, final cooling area) and in trap prototype models. As a result, a scientific rationale has been formed for developing traps of a unique design for various reactors. The impurity capacity of the traps is three to four times as high as that of the best foreign counterparts. Tests have shown these to be highly efficient in purifying sodium of oxygen and hydrogen and much less efficient in sodium purification of corrosion products and carbon. Taking into account the leakage of radioactive sodium during operation of the BN-600 reactor primary circuit traps, a decision was made to install the purification system in the reactor tank to improve the safety of the large fast reactor. It was resolved to exclude the accumulation of hydrogen in the primary circuit traps in nominal conditions. Two trap designs, with argon and sodium cooling, are discussed. It has been shown that operation of the reactor purification system with argon cooling will require 20 trap replacements during the reactor operating life and seven replacements if the deposition of hydrogen into the primary circuit cold traps is excluded. The sodium-cooled version of the trap built in the reactor tank has the same overall dimensions as the argon-cooled trap. The cooling sodium circulates in two trains: outside the jacketed working space body (up to 30% of the flow rate) and in the coil inside of the working space (up to 70% of the flow rate). Updates have been proposed to the trap design based on the calculations using the codes simulating the in-trap processes of heat and mass exchange.