The Irradiation System for High-Temperature Reactors (ISHTAR) thermostatic rig will be used to irradiate advanced core material samples in conditions corresponding to those prevailing in the high-temperature reactors (HTRs): these conditions include a stable temperature extending up to 1000°C in the helium atmosphere. Computational and experimental studies concerning the design have been conducted, proving the possibility of these conditions’ fulfillment inside the rig while maintaining the safety limits for MARIA research reactor. The outcome is the thermostatic rig design that will be implemented in the MARIA reactor. Appropriate irradiation temperature will be achieved by a combination of electric heating with the control system, gamma heating, and a helium insulation gap with precisely designed thickness. The ISHTAR rig will be placed inside the vertical irradiation channel, which is located in the reactor pool. The device is being developed from scratch at the Nuclear Facilities Operation Department of the National Centre for Nuclear Research as a part of the GOSPOSTRATEG programme.
The MARIA research reactor is designed and operated as a multipurpose nuclear installation, combining material testing, neutron beam experiments, and medical and industrial radionuclide production, including molybdenum-99 (99Mo). Recently, after fuel conversion to LEU and rejuvenation of the staff while maintaining their experience, MARIA has been used to respond to the increased interest of the scientific community in advanced nuclear power studies, both fission and fusion. In this work, we would like to introduce MARIA’ s capabilities in the irradiation technology field and how it can serve future nuclear research worldwide.
The paper introduces an innovative conceptual model of a trigeneration system based on implementation of sorption devices in cascade configuration: absorption heat pumps and adsorption chillers connected with thermal energy storage, for recovering useless heat from secondary cooling circuit of a research nuclear reactor. Proposed trigeneration source provides building with useful heat for the purposes of heating system with thermal energy storage and cold for air-conditioning purposes. Also, desalinated water covering technological demand is produced. Useful heat is produced by an absorption heat pump, cold and desalinated water by adsorption chiller/desalinator. For the described trigeneration system calculations based on commercially available equipment (lithium-bromate absorption heat pumps and silica-gel adsorption chillers with desalination option) and required heat/cold/desalinate demand have been carried out. Operational data collected from an existing installation extended by introducing thermal energy storage to the system was used to simulate the heat demand during the year. 5-year operational data from the "MARIA" research nuclear reactor located at the National Center for Nuclear Research in Świerk, Poland was used to simulate low source variations for the absorption heat pump operation. The results of model implementation demonstrate a series of promising effects on many levels of system operation, including production of desalinated water on a large scale and significant reduction of: (I) energy usage (by 40% when considering only heating scenario), (II) nuclear fuel consumption, (III) heat delivery losses.
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