Natural Convection Flapper Valve Design for the Bandung Research Reactor Conversion

Abstract

National Nuclear Energy Agency has planned to convert the Bandung TRIGA reactor by replacing the rod-type into plate-type fuel elements. The calculation results show that Bandung TRIGA Plate reactor with 2000 kW power requires forced convection cooling system. According to the calculation results using the Coolod-N2 computer program the minimum required cooling flow rate is 70 kg/s. Consequently, it is necessary to modify the reactor primary cooling system. In this modification required a flapper valve design that can a double function. The valve closed when the primary pump is powered and the flow rate on the primary coolant is 70 kg/s. However, when the pump is off because of the power outages and the reactor will scram, so the flapper valve will open. The residual heat in the reactor core will be cooled by natural convection. There is reversal flow from a downward to an upward cooling direction, and the upward natural convection heat removal throughout the flapper valve. In addition, the reactor also will scram if the cooling flow rate drops below 85% of 70 kg/s. The flapper valve is equipped with a ballast pendulum to open the flapper valve. The pendulum load must be greater than the flapper valve force plus the pump force due to forced flow. The flapper valve will open, if the flow rate is smaller than 85% of the required flow. Conversely, the flapper valve load must be smaller than the amount of flapper valve force and flow due to the pumps attractiveness, so that the flapper valve can be closed tightly and the reactor can operate with a forced convection flow. The design of natural convection flapper valve considers the following of a reliable, a work based on passive systems, a simple, an easy to make, an easy maintenance and it can be observed from the top of the reactor tank deck. As a redundancy, the operation of natural convection a flapper valve is added by mechanical operation, so the operation of the valve is truly reliable.