Liquid Metal Reactor Head Designs in the USA. Heat and Mass Transfer Considerations

摘要

Development of liquid metal reactor plants in the United States over the past 30 years has resulted in an evolution of reactor head designs as reflected in the SRE, Hallam, EBR-II and FFTF plants. This evolution has probably been affected to some extent by the fact that, in contrast to most other countries, there is no single organization in the United States which has been responsible for the design of liquid reactor plants. The current US LMR design efforts involve two innovative design consortiums (guided by the US Department of Energy) and a joint industry venture on the Large Scale Prototype Breeder (LSPB). It is therefore somewhat difficult to provide a statement on the philosophy of the reactor head design in our country. I will however briefly describe the existing and proposed US liquid metal reactor head designs and in the process, attempt to provide some insight on the basis for those designs. (ERA citation 11:050578)