Safe ExploitAtion Related CHemistry for HLM reactors (SEARCH)
Forskningsprojekt, 2011 – 2015

In accordance with the ESNII roadmap MYRRHA will be the first HLM cooled nuclear system to be deployed in Europe. The SEARCH project aims to support the licensing process of MYRRHA by investigating the safe chemical behaviour of the fuel and coolant in the reactor. The control of the oxygen content and the management of impurities in the melt will be studied. A second critical issue in the safety assessment of a nuclear system is the compatibility of the fuel with the coolant after fuel pin leakage or a core melt. The full analyses of these scenarios using validated codes require more experimental data on basic properties of the interactions between the materials involved. For that the heat transfer coefficients of a wire-spaced fuel bundle and the basic chemical behaviour of a mixture of fuel, coolant and clad materials range will be studied at relevant temperatures. The compatibility experiments will be done with UO2, PuO2 and unirradiated MOX fuel, addressing the energy release, solubility in the coolant and fuel-coolant-clad compound formation. Fuel dispersion in the coolant will be simulated by a suitable numerical approach, aiming to address the migration of the fuel and the possibility to have criticality problems due to fuel accumulation. The prevention of risks to the general public will be studied by looking into the escape of radioactive materials including fission products and heavy volatile elements as Po and Hg into the environment. The kinetics and efficiency of methods to capture these elements in the covergas system will be examined. The evaporation of Po and Hg from LBE will be measured to obtain a full data set for licensing. Issues related to Po management will be also addressed by an ab initio theoretical approach, predicting its solubility in LBE, the interaction with noble metals to select possible getters and studying formation of Po-compounds.

Deltagare

Christian Ekberg (kontakt)

Kärnkemi

Teodora Retegan Vollmer

Chalmers, Kemi och kemiteknik, Energi och material

Samarbetspartners

Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico (ENEA) Sostenibile (ENEA)

Roma, Italy

Centro di Ricerca, Sviluppo e Studi Superiori in Sardegna (CRS4)

Cagliari, Italy

Gemensamma forskningscentrumet (JRC), Europeiska kommissionen

Brussels, Belgium

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Karlsruhe, Germany

Nuclear Research And Consultancy Group

Petten, Netherlands

Paul Scherrer Institut

Villigen, Switzerland

Regia Autonoma Pentru Activitati Nucleare Drobeta Tr. Severin Ra Sucursala Cercetari Nucleare Pitesti

Mioveni - Arges, Romania

Regia Autonoma Tehnologii Pentru Energia Nucleara - Raten

Mioveni, Romania

Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie (SCK-CEN)

Brussel, Belgium

The von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics

Rhode Saint Genese, Belgium

Universita di Pisa

Pisa, Italy

Universiteit Gent

Gent, Belgium

Finansiering

Europeiska kommissionen (EU)

Projekt-id: EC/FP7/295736
Finansierar Chalmers deltagande under 2011–2015

Relaterade styrkeområden och infrastruktur

Hållbar utveckling

Drivkrafter

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2020-09-02