US Transient Testing Program Dan Wachs National Technical lead for Transient Testing Idaho National Laboratory 18 th IGORR Meeting, Sydney, Australia December 7, 2017 www.inl.gov
Fuel Safety Research • Objective: Conduct the experimental activities required to help the industry describe how fuel systems respond to relevant transients (both operational and off-normal) Overpower Control Rod Core Ejection Xe Burnout Misload Power Steady State Ramp Operation SCRAM HCDA Large Blockage Pump w/o SCRAM Transient Coast-down Large Blockage Reactors (Element Damage) Power Reduction Hot Cell Large Break LOCA Small Blockage Small Break Furnace (Debris) LOCA MTRs Under-cooling ∞ µ s hr min sec ms ms sec min hr ∞ ~0 1 τ event TREAT Power/Cooling Ratio ATR Hot-cell PALM
History of Fuel Safety Research at INL 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 SPERT First Critical November 14, 2017! Special Power Excursion Reactor Operational Standby Transient Reactor Test Facility TREAT TREAT LOFT Loss of Fluid Test Facility PBF Power Burst Facility 3
Transient Testing Phase 1 Timeline LWR Water Loop Tests Super-SERTTA-CAL #1 ATF-3-2 Experiment Campaign in Super-SERTTA Multi-SERTTA-CAL #1 LWR Static Capsule Tests ATF-3-1 Experiment Campaign in Multi-SERTTA ATF-3 Transient Multi-SERTTA-CAL #2 Prescriptions 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 SFR Static Capsule Tests MARCH Capsule Qualification TITAN-C1 Experiments in and Demonstration MARCH-Thor Capsules SFR Flowing Loop Tests Na Loop Tests CAL teats SFR Consortium Na Loop Tests + support of emerging programs (NSUF, NASA, NHS, …) 4
Visualization of Fuel Behavior During RIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0o4P_F4s9s 5
Transient Test Results Fragmentation Threshold Failure Threshold 6
Traditional Nuclear Technology Development $/test # tests time Integral Irradiation Testing yrs $$$$ #### • Event simulations conducted in prototypic environments and configurations Semi-integral Testing $$$ ~yr ### • Partial event simulations in simplified environments that engage multiple relevant phenomena. • Tests can be used to validate integral M&S tools Phenomenological Tests $$ mths ## • Separate effects studies conducted to understand and describe individual physical phenomena • Analytical models developed for use in future integral testing Material Properties $ wks # • Definition of thermal physical and mechanical properties of materials and components used in fuel system. R&D is specific to a single fuel design. Effort is expensive and takes a long time 7
Modern Multi-Scale, Multi-Physics Development $/test # tests time R&D Integrated through M&S Integral Irradiation Testing yrs $$$$ # • Event simulations conducted in prototypic environments and configurations Semi-integral Testing $$$ ~yr ## • Partial event simulations in simplified environments that engage multiple relevant phenomena. • Tests can be used to validate integral M&S tools Phenomenological Tests $$ mths ### • Separate effects studies conducted to understand and describe individual physical phenomena • Analytical models developed for use in future integral testing Material Properties $ wks #### • Definition of thermal physical and mechanical properties of materials and components used in fuel system. R&D is relevant to many fuel designs. Effort is still expensive and takes a long time 8
Experimental Capability Development Transient Testing Capability Demonstrated range of shaped transients TREAT can deliver In-pile instrumentation Experiment Vehicles that and PIE capabilities simulate environments ranging from simplified to prototypic
TREAT Transients Pulsing Continuous Power (e.g. ‘Flattop’) Power Ramps Complex Transients
Sample Environment • The irradiation test vehicle used in TREAT are cartridge type devices operated independently of the reactor. • These devices deliver the experiment specific thermal-hydraulic environment. Systems can be developed to deliver a wide range of conditions – Prototypic pressure/temperature/flow for LWR, SFR, LFR, GR or MSR applications – Specialized or simplified environments for separate effects studies • Program strategy will focus on development of modular devices that can be adapted for various user applications with minimal cost and schedule
Test Vehicles Insert Experiment Here Enlarged Instrument Penetration Flange Blowdown Valve Coolant lines Heaters Specimen & Flux Shaping Region Flow Meter Melt Catcher Region Expansion Tanks 12
Irradiation Testing Rig Design Workshops • Irradiation test rig design is a unique area of engineering specialists that are not adequately supported by existing international communities • Goal is to develop technical relationships between specialists that may – Lead to stronger engineering collaborations across institutes – Overall enhancement of irradiation testing services (reduction in irradiation test cost and improved products) • 1 st workshop held at SCK-CEN with participation from ~10 test reactors and institutes • 2 nd workshop to be held at INL in July 2018 • 3 rd workshop under partnership with IGORR meeting in 2019 13
– – 1 2 3 Sample Characterization n l • Pre- and Post-Test Examination been – Traditional PIE 1 3 – Modern 3D neutron tomography o • In-situ Instrumentation 2 Boiling Detector – High speed, specialized instrumentation to s 3D Reconstruction of 7-pin TREAT Test monitor temperature, pressure, deformation, etc. – Fast Neutron Hodoscope for real-time fuel motion monitoring Sum of all 96 hodoscope channels during power ramp to 80 kW TREAT Fast Neutron Hodoscope
Summary • The US is in the progress of re-establishing the capability to conduct transient testing in support of fuel safety research for advanced nuclear fuel systems • Testing and research programs are built around the modern methods that integrate multi-physics, multi-scale behaviors using modern M&S and experimental techniques • Testing capability centers around three pillars – Nuclear transient simulation (TREAT restart) – Irradiation test device design (for multiple reactor system types) – Advanced instrumentation (for in-situ behavior monitoring) 15
Questions? 16
10Yr Plan (circa 2014) 17 INL/LTD-14-33324
TREAT Restart Timeline 1 st T ransient DOE Issues CD-0 for Resumption of Testing Workshop Transient Testing Conducted at INL 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 TREAT selected as preferred TREAT achieves Conduct 1 st option and Resumption of (2 nd ) 1 st critical Transient Testing Program transient experiment operations initiated in TREAT 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 But what come’s next? 18
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