UNB-CNER Liquid Sodium Test Loop Design for SFR Materials and Chemistry Research

Abstract

To support the development of sodium cooled fast reactors (SFRs) a liquid sodium test loop is being designed at the University of New Brunswick’s (UNB) Centre for Nuclear Energy Research (CNER). The state-of-the-art facility will provide liquid sodium research capacity and expertise and enable significant experimental campaigns focusing on corrosion of advanced materials, mass transport, liquid sodium chemistry, and model and instrumentation development and validation. The test loop will simulate non-isothermal sodium heat transport loops operating between a cold leg temperature up to 400°C and a hot leg temperature up to 625°C. Liquid sodium will circulate through various test vessels and test sections including: fuel pin simulators for cladding testing under heat flux and high velocity flow conditions; a sodium-sodium heat exchanger with a removable tube bundle to simulate intermediate temperature conditions; and, test pots for the insertion of material specimens and instrumentation in liquid sodium at the hot and cold leg temperatures. The main sodium loop will be supported by a secondary purification and chemistry diagnostics loop for flexible purification by cold- and hot-trapping, oxygen measurement and chemistry sensor development.