Design and Thermal-Hydraulic Evaluation of Integrated Steam Generator with Serpentine-Tube Configuration for Prevention of Sodium-Water Reaction

Abstract

Although sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) can have inherently enhanced safety features, there is a concern regarding unexpected events arising from a sodium-water reaction (SWR) in a Rankine cycle steam generator. Innovative concepts of integrated steam generators (ISGs), including an intermediate heat exchanger, have been suggested for eliminating an SWR by employing an intermediate fluid between liquid sodium and steam/water system. In this study, we propose an ISG designed with a novel tube configuration: a serpentine tube-type integrated steam generator (S-ISG). Furthermore, we developed a dedicated one-dimensional thermal-hydraulic analysis code for the specific design evaluation of the S-ISGs. The evaluation results are reported with reasonable explanations and compared with the results obtained using a conventional CFD tool to analyze local thermal-hydraulic characteristics that cannot be shown in the one-dimensional analyses. The proposed S-ISG has an inherent advantage for modularization as well as prevention of SWR; therefore, it is characterized by its ability to improve operational efficiency even in the case of repair, despite the low space efficiency. The results demonstrate that the component developed in this study can serve as an option to maintain cost efficiency while enhancing the public acceptability of an SFR.