Sodium purification systems for NPP with fast reactors (retrospective and perspective views)

10/23/2015 2015 - #03 Current issues in nuclear energy

Kozlov F.A. Sorokin A.P. Konovalov M.A.

https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2015.3.01

Coolant purification system is an essential part of any nuclear facility. The lack of experience with in-vessel purification systems in our country poses a series of tasks, one of them is to increase the effectiveness and capacity of such systems. A retrospective analysis of the purification systems in reactors from BR-5 to BN-1200, among them cold traps and cesium sorbents that ensure successful operation of sodium-cooled fast reactor NPPs, hot traps to be used for sodium purification from oxygen at NPPs has shown improvement potential of these systems. Based on the results of this work, recommendations for the directions of work toward improvement of characteristics of sodium purification systems for perspective NPPs with sodium coolant are given. The cold trap should be a mandatory element of the in-vessel primary coolant purification system. Hot traps can ensure the primary loop sodium purification from oxygen at NPP nominal operation, as well at lay regimes with heated coolant. Optimal solutions for removing radioactive impurities and non-radioactive products of corrosion from sodium coolant require goal-oriented R&D programs.

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purification system cold trap hot trap filter impurities oxygen hydrogen corrosion products diffusion heat and mass transfer heater

Link for citing the article: Kozlov F.A., Sorokin A.P., Konovalov M.A. Sodium purification systems for NPP with fast reactors (retrospective and perspective views). Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2015, no. 3, pp. 5-19; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2015.3.01 (in Russian).