US Transient Testing Program

Transcription

1 US Transient Testing Program Dan Wachs National Technical lead for Transient Testing Idaho National Laboratory 18 th IGORR Meeting, Sydney, Australia December 7, 2017

2 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) Xe Burnout Core Misload Control Rod Ejection Overpower SCRAM Steady State Operation Power Ramp HCDA ms sec Power Reduction min Small Break LOCA hr Large Break LOCA Pump Coast-down Small Blockage (Debris) Large Blockage (Element Damage) hr min sec ms Large Blockage w/o SCRAM Under-cooling µs Transient Reactors Hot Cell Furnace MTRs ~0 1 τ event Power/Cooling Ratio Hot-cell ATR PALM TREAT

3 History of Fuel Safety Research at INL Special Power Excursion Reactor SPERT First Critical November 14, 2017! Transient Reactor Test Facility LOFT Operational Standby TREAT Loss of Fluid Test Facility PBF Power Burst Facility 3

4 Transient Testing Phase 1 Timeline LWR Super-SERTTA-CAL Water Loop #1 Tests 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 Prescriptions Multi-SERTTA-CAL # SFR MARCH Static Capsule Qualification Capsule Tests and Demonstration TITAN-C1 Experiments in 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

5 Visualization of Fuel Behavior During RIA 5

6 Transient Test Results Fragmentation Threshold Failure Threshold 6

7 Traditional Nuclear Technology Development $/test time # tests Integral Irradiation Testing Event simulations conducted in prototypic environments and configurations $$$$ yrs #### Semi-integral Testing Partial event simulations in simplified environments that engage multiple relevant phenomena. Tests can be used to validate integral M&S tools $$$ ~yr ### Phenomenological Tests Separate effects studies conducted to understand and describe individual physical phenomena Analytical models developed for use in future integral testing $$ mths ## Material Properties Definition of thermal physical and mechanical properties of materials and components used in fuel system. $ wks # R&D is specific to a single fuel design. 7 Effort is expensive and takes a long time

8 R&D Integrated through M&S Modern Multi-Scale, Multi-Physics Development $/test time # tests Integral Irradiation Testing Event simulations conducted in prototypic environments and configurations $$$$ yrs # Semi-integral Testing Partial event simulations in simplified environments that engage multiple relevant phenomena. Tests can be used to validate integral M&S tools $$$ ~yr ## Phenomenological Tests Separate effects studies conducted to understand and describe individual physical phenomena Analytical models developed for use in future integral testing $$ mths ### Material Properties Definition of thermal physical and mechanical properties of materials and components used in fuel system. $ wks #### R&D is relevant to many fuel designs. 8 Effort is still expensive and takes a long time

9 Experimental Capability Development Demonstrated range of shaped transients TREAT can deliver Transient Testing Capability Experiment Vehicles that simulate environments ranging from simplified to prototypic In-pile instrumentation and PIE capabilities

10 TREAT Transients Pulsing Continuous Power (e.g. Flattop ) Power Ramps Complex Transients

11 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

12 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

13 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 rd workshop under partnership with IGORR meeting in

14 all activities. A complete boiling detector system has been developed and nearly b qualified for deployment in in-pile measurement in a PWR water capsule. The system includes sensor, electrical circuit design and setup, and data acquisition and processing software that will interface with the TREAT experiment DAS An electrically insulating coating was discovered that has been Sample Characterization Pre- and Post-Test Examination Traditional PIE capabilities. Modern 3D neutron tomography tested and performed well in PWR conditions to enhance detection A unique high-speed imaging station has been built and utilized to perform In-situ a Instrumentation design of experiments study to characterize the performance High of speed, the sensor specialized related to RIA instrumentation boiling needs. Results to show that monitor the sensor temperature, is most sensitive pressure, to the presence deformation, of void of the parameters etc. studied with good sensitivity to a film boiling void geometry. Fast Sensor Neutron response Hodoscope has been tested for real-time to show expected fuel response motion times better monitoring than < 1 ms D Boiling Reconstruction Detector of 7-pin TREAT Test Sum of all 96 hodoscope channels during power ramp to 80 kw TREAT Fast Neutron Hodoscope

15 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

16 Questions? 16

17 10Yr Plan (circa 2014) 17 INL/LTD

18 TREAT Restart Timeline 1 st Transient Testing Workshop Conducted at INL DOE Issues CD-0 for Resumption of Transient Testing TREAT selected as preferred option and Resumption of Transient Testing Program initiated TREAT achieves (2 nd ) 1 st critical operations Conduct 1 st transient experiment in TREAT But what come s next? 18