New nuclear reactor designs that incorporate heat pipes are being investigated for possible near-term deployment in terrestrial applications. This study explores the use of screen-covered axially grooved sodium heat pipes and their applicability for providing heat removal for microreactors. A sodium working fluid is appropriate for microreactors operating in the 5 to 20 MWt range at approximately 650ºC. HTPIPE, a legacy software code, was validated for the case of screen-covered grooves and used to perform steady-state analyses to determine the performance limits of a proposed heat pipe design. The performance limits of a sodium heat pipe with a screen-covered square grooved wick structure is compared to that of an equivalent heat pipe with an annular wick. In a horizontal orientation at an operating temperature of 650ºC, the performance limits for the heat pipe with an annular wick configuration are 15% higher than for the screen-covered groove wick. At operating temperatures below 777ºC the annular wick outperforms the screen-covered groove wick and at temperatures above 777ºC the screen-covered grooved wick outperforms the annular wick. However, the marginal performance gain at higher temperatures may not justify the use of heat pipes with a screen-covered groove wick structure due to increased manufacturing costs.
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