Liquid Metal Coolants Technology for Fast Reactors

In the paper presented are results of comparative analysis and choice of liquid metal coolants for fast reactors, current status of studies on physical chemistry and technology of sodium coolant for fast neutron reactors and heavy liquid metal coolants (HLMC), namely: Pb-Bi and Pb for fast reactors and accelerator driven systems. There are descriptions of devices designed for control of the impurities in sodium coolant and their removal and methods of HLMC quality control, removal of impurities from HLMC and steel surface of components of nuclear power plants (NPP) and relevant equipment. Attention is given to the issues of modeling of impurities mass transfer in liquid metal coolants and designing new liquid metal coolants for NPP. Results of analysis of NPP abnormal operating conditions are presented. The adopted design approaches assure reliable protection against accidents. By now, about 200 reactor-years of sodium cooled fast reactors operation and about 80 reactor-years of submarine reactors operation have been gained. The new goals on sodium and HLMC technology have been formulated as applied to the new generation fast reactors.