The development of next-generation Lead-cooled Fast Reactors (LFRs) up to industrial deployment requires the realization of a demonstration plant intended to prove the viability of technology as well as the overall system behavior. The conceptual design of a low-cost scaled-down LFR named ALFRED (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator) has been undertaken within the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme's LEADER (Lead-cooled European Advanced Demonstration Reactor) project. A simulation tool has been developed in MATLAB® based on a lumped-parameter approach, aimed at investigating the reactor stability and identifying potential regions of instability through relatively straightforward analyses. As a major outcome, ALFRED has turned out to be inherently stable on the entire power range independently of both the fuel burn-up and the value of the coolant density coefficient, which should reach unrealistic high values (nearly 6 pcm K−1) to make the reactor unstable. The results of this study have provided the reactor designers with important feedbacks leading to the finalization of the primary system configuration.
Stability analyses for the European LFR demonstrator
CAMMI, ANTONIO;LORENZI, STEFANO;PONCIROLI, ROBERTO;
2013-01-01
Abstract
The development of next-generation Lead-cooled Fast Reactors (LFRs) up to industrial deployment requires the realization of a demonstration plant intended to prove the viability of technology as well as the overall system behavior. The conceptual design of a low-cost scaled-down LFR named ALFRED (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator) has been undertaken within the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme's LEADER (Lead-cooled European Advanced Demonstration Reactor) project. A simulation tool has been developed in MATLAB® based on a lumped-parameter approach, aimed at investigating the reactor stability and identifying potential regions of instability through relatively straightforward analyses. As a major outcome, ALFRED has turned out to be inherently stable on the entire power range independently of both the fuel burn-up and the value of the coolant density coefficient, which should reach unrealistic high values (nearly 6 pcm K−1) to make the reactor unstable. The results of this study have provided the reactor designers with important feedbacks leading to the finalization of the primary system configuration.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
