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This paper describes an investigation of the flow in a narrow gap between a rotating and stationary disc with an arbitrarily imposed radial pressure difference. This system represents the conditions pertaining between the rotors and casings of many fluid machines.The investigation is mainly experimental, for although the equations of motion were derived for the fluid system in question, these were found not to be tractable for the conditions observed. Experimental results are reported from two separate test series. The first test series yielded data on the frictional and pressure forces in the system which were obtained in sufficient detail for use in design calculations for fluid machinery. In the second series the flow between the discs was studied in detail in order to explain the nature and form of the results obtained in the first series of tests.

IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is a light water cooled, 335 MWe power reactor which is being designed by an international consortium as part of the US DOE NERI Program. IRIS features an integral reactor vessel that contains all the main reactor coolant system components including the reactor core, the coolant pumps, the steam generators and the pressurizer. This integral design approach eliminates the large coolant loop piping, and thus eliminates large loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) as well as the individual component pressure vessels and supports. In addition, IRIS is being designed with a long-life core and enhanced safety to address the requirements defined by the US DOE for Generation IV reactors. The design of the steam generators, which are internally contained within the reactor vessel, is a major design effort in the development of the integral IRIS concept. The ongoing design activity about the steam generator is the subject of this paper.

IRIS is an advanced integral pressurized water reactor, developed by an international consortium led by Westinghouse. The licensing process requires the execution of integral and separate effect tests on a properly scaled reactor simulator for reactor concept, safety system verification, and code assessment. Within the framework of an Italian R&D program on Nuclear Fission, managed by ENEA and supported by the Ministry of Economic Development, the SPES3 facility is under design and will be built and operated at SIET laboratories. SPES3 simulates the primary, secondary, and containment systems of IRIS with 1 : 100 volume scale, full elevation, and prototypical thermal-hydraulic conditions. The simulation of the facility with the RELAP5 code and the execution of the tests will provide a reliable tool for data extrapolation and safety analyses of the final IRIS design. This paper summarises the main design steps of the SPES3 integral test facility, underlying choices and phases that lead to the final design.

IRIS (International Reactor Innovative and Secure) is a light water cooled, 335 MWe power reactor which is being designed by an international consortium as part of the US DOE NERI Program. IRIS features an integral reactor vessel that contains all the major reactor coolant system components including the reactor core, the coolant pumps, the steam generators and the pressurizer. This integral design approach eliminates the large coolant loop piping, and thus eliminates large loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) as well as the individual component pressure vessels and supports. In addition, IRIS is being designed with a long life core and enhanced safety to address the requirements defined by the US DOE for Generation IV reactors. One of the innovative features of the IRIS design is the adoption of a reactor coolant pump (called “spool” pump) which is completely contained inside the reactor vessel. Background, status and future developments of the IRIS spool pump are presented in this paper.

A deterministic analysis of the IRIS safety features has been carried out by means of the best-estimate code RELAP (ver. RELAP5 mod3.2). First, the main system components were modeled and tested separately, namely: the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV), the modular helical-coil Steam Generators (SG) and the Passive (natural circulation) Emergency Heat Removal System (PEHRS). Then, a preliminary set of accident transients for the whole primary and safety systems was investigated. Since the project was in a conceptual phase, the reported analyses must be considered preliminary. In fact, neither the reactor components, nor the safety systems and the reactor signal logics were completely defined at that time. Three “conventional” design basis accidents have been preliminary evaluated: a Loss Of primary Flow Accident, a Loss Of Coolant Accident and a Loss Of Feed Water accident. The results show the effectiveness of the safety systems also in LOCA conditions; the core remains covered for the required grace period. This provides the basis to move forward to the preliminary design.

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