Experimental Qualification of New Instrumentation for Lead-Lithium Eutectic in IELLLO Facility

Abstract

The experimental facility IELLLO was installed in ENEA Brasimone R.C. in 2007, aiming to support the design of liquid Test Blanket Modules that will be installed in ITER and to contribute to the development of Lead-Lithium Eutectic (LLE) technologies. IELLLO has been recently upgraded by installing instrumentation relevant for ITER application. Differential pressure transducers, a Coriolis and a thermal mass flow meters were installed in the facility. An experimental campaign was planned, setting two objectives. The first objective was to qualify the instrumentation for flowing LLE The installation of a differential pressure transducer across each flow meter made also possible to characterize the pressure drops across these instruments. The second objective of this activity was to improve the results of the 2015 campaign by analyzing the performances of the main components of the loop at lower mass flow rates (namely 0.5-1.2 kg/s) and by quantifying the pressure drops across the main components. The investigated flow rates were chosen to be relevant for the LLE loop of the WCLL TBS (Water Cooled Lead-Lithium Test Blanket System). This work presents the results of the experimental campaign, paying particular attention to underline the lessons learned on how to correctly operate instrumentation for LLE.

TRIEX-II: an experimental facility for the characterization of the tritium extraction unit of the WCLL blanket of ITER and DEMO fusion reactors

“…The nominal accuracy of this instrument is 0.1% of the Full Scale Output. The installation procedure and the testing of this instrument is described in [12]. Each differential pressure transducer has two remote connectors that have to be installed at the two ends of the component whose pressure drops have to be measured.…”

Compatibility of niobium, vanadium and P22 steel in high temperature flowing LiPb

“…IELLLO (Figure 4) is a large LiPb loop that was built at ENEA Brasimone R.C. in 2007 and mainly used to characterize components [19] and instrumentation [20], but also to investigate the In-box LOCA (Loss Of Coolant Accident) for the HCLL TBS (Helium Cooled Lithium-Lead Test Blanket System) with a test section named THALLIUM [21]. In the present campaign IELLLO was used to supply LiPb for specimen exposure at 500°C and 1.94 kg/s (0.5 m/s along the specimen rods).…”

“…Sealed k-type thermocouples were immersed to monitor the LiPb temperature at the inlet and at the outlet of the test section: very small oscillations were measured throughout the exposure. Instead, the flow rate was measured by the thermal mass flow meter, an instrument that was previously tested in this same facility and that proved to be reliable for being used in LiPb [20].…”

Experimental Investigation on CIRCE-HERO for the EU DEMO PbLi/Water Heat Exchanger Development

“…Within the EUROfusion Work Package Balance of Plant task, an experimental campaign was executed as part of the research activities undertaken at ENEA Brasimone R.C. to investigate the PbLi technology [29][30][31]. A test matrix of five tests was set up for the CIRCE-HERO facility in order to obtain experimental data in operating conditions relevant for the PbLi/water HEX [12] of the EU DEMO fusion reactor.…”