SESAME project: advancements in liquid metal thermal hydraulics experiments and simulations

Abstract

Liquid metal cooled reactors are envisaged to play an important role in the future of nuclear energy production because of their possibility to use natural resources efficiently and to reduce the volume and lifetime of nuclear waste. Sodium and Liquid lead (-alloys) are considered the short and long term solution respectively, as coolant in GEN-IV reactor. Thermal-hydraulics of liquid metals plays a key role in the design and safety assessments of these reactors. Therefore, this is the main topic of a large European collaborative program (the Horizon 2020 SESAME) sponsored by the European Commission. This paper will present the progress in the project with respect to liquid metal cooled reactor thermal-hydraulics (liquid metal heat transfer, fuel assembly thermal-hydraulics, pool thermal-hydraulics, and system thermal-hydraulics). New reference data, both experimental and high-fidelity numerical data is being generated. And finally, when considering the system scale, the purpose is to validate and improve system thermal-hydraulics models and codes, but also to further develop and validate multi-scale approaches under development.

Liquid metal cooled fast reactor thermal hydraulic research development: A review

“…In the GEN-IV reactors, sodium and Pb/LBE coolants are viewed as short- and long-term solutions [ 5 ]. An overview of LFR design and the development of related technologies by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) is presented [ 6 ].…”

“…Tarantino et al [ 5 ] present their findings from the SESAME project, which aims to improve liquid metal coolant thermal hydraulics investigations in experiments as well as simulations. The aim of taking into account the system scale is to test and enhance STH models and codes as well as improve developmental approaches and validate multi-scale techniques.…”

The SquAd derivation: a Square Additive Approach to the Turbulent Prandtl Number

“…Low Prandtl number liquid metals serve as primary coolant for MYRRHA and ALFRED, two Gen-IV reactors under development [1]. The low Prandtl number induces discrepancies in the modeling of the turbulent heat transfer when directly treated according to the Reynolds analogy with a constant turbulent Prandtl number.…”