Flow Test Plan to Support the Development of Cartridge Loops in the Versatile Test Reactor

摘要

The Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) is a fast-spectrum, sodium-cooled test reactor currently being designed to enable state-of-the-art fuels and materials testing to support the development of advanced nuclear technology. The testing capabilities of the reactor will cover all Gen IV concepts, including sodium, lead/lead-bismuth reactor, gas, and molten salt coolant technologies. The primary reactor system is a pool-type, metal-fueled, sodium-cooled fast reactor technology. The fuel assembly layout (12 cm flat to flat hexagonal) provides a flexible space for a wide variety of experimental devices for both fueled and unfueled subassemblies. Currently, three basic types of experimental devices are being developed: uninstrumented test assemblies, instrumented test assemblies, and cartridge loops. Uninstrumented open-core experimental rigs will simply replace a fueled subassembly with experiment assemblies of various types.