High-pressure test loop design and application

A high-pressure test loop (HPTL) has been constructed for the purpose of performing a number of chemistry experiments at simulated HTGR conditions of temperature, pressure, flow, and impurity content. The HPTL can be used to develop, modify, and verify computer codes for a variety of chemical processes involving gas phase transport in the reactor. Processes such as graphite oxidation, fission product transport, fuel reactions, purification systems, and dust entrainment can be studied at high pressure, which would largely eliminate difficulties in correlating existing laboratory data and reactor conditions.