A non-fueled nuclear-heated rod for in-pile transient boiling studies

Connie M. Hill; Charles P. Folsom; Austin D. Fleming; Robert J. Armstrong; Nicolas E. Woolstenhulme; Joshua D. Fishler; John D. Bess; Richard Hernandez; Nicholas R. Brown; Colby B. Jensen

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2023.112508

A non-fueled nuclear-heated rod for in-pile transient boiling studies

Connie M. Hill, Charles P. Folsom, Austin D. Fleming, Robert J. Armstrong, Nicolas E. Woolstenhulme, Joshua D. Fishler, John D. Bess, Richard Hernandez, Nicholas R. Brown, Colby B. Jensen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Separate-effects boiling experiments have recently been conducted in the Transient Reactor Test Facility at Idaho National Laboratory to investigate transient heating and irradiation effects on cladding-to-coolant heat transfer. Specifically, transient critical heat flux (CHF) remains an important area of research, and better understanding of this phenomenon has potential for improving predictive models related to operational and safety limits. Consequently, this knowledge is expected to improve efficiency of light-water reactor operations. A novel borated nuclear-heated rodlet (BNHR) was designed to enable observation of transient cladding-to-coolant heat transfer phenomena. The final BNHR design takes a surrogate approach, wherein nuclear heating is induced by ¹⁰B(n, α) reactions rather than derived from fissions in a fueled specimen. The structure of the BNHR consists of a hollowed out borated (B_nat ∼ 2.05 wt%) stainless steel tube with an hourglass-shaped outer surface, capped at both ends with non-borated stainless steel. This geometry allows for inner-rodlet instrumentation and generation of the highest nuclear heating rates near the center of the rodlet to ensure onset of boiling near instrumentation for real-time observation. A novel approach to measuring the nuclear energy deposition rate in the BNHR separate and apart from the influence of the coolant, termed the n-α thermometer, is also detailed in this paper. This device has demonstrated excellent repeatability, and measurements indicate predictive modeling results for energy deposition in the BNHR rod agree within a 10% margin of the experiment measurements. These results give confidence that the BNHR design has successfully met experiment objectives.

Original language	English
Article number	112508
Journal	Nuclear Engineering and Design
Volume	414
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2023.112508
State	Published - Dec 1 2023
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The authors acknowledge the many contributions from an expansive team: Todd Pavey and Devin Imholte for experiment design and integration, Leigh Ann Astle for project management and integration, Ashley Lambson, Kevin Tsai, Eric Larsen for fabrication and experiment diagnostics, Robert Armstrong and Ben Chase for analysis, Sterling Morrill, Gary Owens, John Carter, James Parry, J.R. Biggs, Anthony Maestas, and many others for TREAT operations, John Wagner, Steve Hayes, and Daniel Wachs for support, guidance, and advice. This research made use of the resources of the High Performance Computing Center at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), which is supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Science User Facilities under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517 . This work was supported through the INL Laboratory Directed Research & Development Program under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07-05ID14517. Accordingly, the U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. The authors acknowledge the many contributions from an expansive team: Todd Pavey and Devin Imholte for experiment design and integration, Leigh Ann Astle for project management and integration, Ashley Lambson, Kevin Tsai, Eric Larsen for fabrication and experiment diagnostics, Robert Armstrong and Ben Chase for analysis, Sterling Morrill, Gary Owens, John Carter, James Parry, J.R. Biggs, Anthony Maestas, and many others for TREAT operations, John Wagner, Steve Hayes, and Daniel Wachs for support, guidance, and advice. This research made use of the resources of the High Performance Computing Center at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), which is supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Science User Facilities under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517. This work was supported through the INL Laboratory Directed Research & Development Program under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07-05ID14517. Accordingly, the U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

Funders	Funder number
U.S. Government
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-AC07-05ID14517
Office of Nuclear Energy

Keywords

Critical Heat Flux
LWR
RISA
TREAT

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10.1016/j.nucengdes.2023.112508

Cite this

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title = "A non-fueled nuclear-heated rod for in-pile transient boiling studies",

abstract = "Separate-effects boiling experiments have recently been conducted in the Transient Reactor Test Facility at Idaho National Laboratory to investigate transient heating and irradiation effects on cladding-to-coolant heat transfer. Specifically, transient critical heat flux (CHF) remains an important area of research, and better understanding of this phenomenon has potential for improving predictive models related to operational and safety limits. Consequently, this knowledge is expected to improve efficiency of light-water reactor operations. A novel borated nuclear-heated rodlet (BNHR) was designed to enable observation of transient cladding-to-coolant heat transfer phenomena. The final BNHR design takes a surrogate approach, wherein nuclear heating is induced by 10B(n, α) reactions rather than derived from fissions in a fueled specimen. The structure of the BNHR consists of a hollowed out borated (Bnat ∼ 2.05 wt%) stainless steel tube with an hourglass-shaped outer surface, capped at both ends with non-borated stainless steel. This geometry allows for inner-rodlet instrumentation and generation of the highest nuclear heating rates near the center of the rodlet to ensure onset of boiling near instrumentation for real-time observation. A novel approach to measuring the nuclear energy deposition rate in the BNHR separate and apart from the influence of the coolant, termed the n-α thermometer, is also detailed in this paper. This device has demonstrated excellent repeatability, and measurements indicate predictive modeling results for energy deposition in the BNHR rod agree within a 10% margin of the experiment measurements. These results give confidence that the BNHR design has successfully met experiment objectives.",

keywords = "Critical Heat Flux, LWR, RISA, TREAT",

author = "Hill, {Connie M.} and Folsom, {Charles P.} and Fleming, {Austin D.} and Armstrong, {Robert J.} and Woolstenhulme, {Nicolas E.} and Fishler, {Joshua D.} and Bess, {John D.} and Richard Hernandez and Brown, {Nicholas R.} and Jensen, {Colby B.}",

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AU - Hill, Connie M.

AU - Folsom, Charles P.

AU - Fleming, Austin D.

AU - Armstrong, Robert J.

AU - Woolstenhulme, Nicolas E.

AU - Fishler, Joshua D.

AU - Bess, John D.

AU - Hernandez, Richard

AU - Brown, Nicholas R.

AU - Jensen, Colby B.

PY - 2023/12/1

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N2 - Separate-effects boiling experiments have recently been conducted in the Transient Reactor Test Facility at Idaho National Laboratory to investigate transient heating and irradiation effects on cladding-to-coolant heat transfer. Specifically, transient critical heat flux (CHF) remains an important area of research, and better understanding of this phenomenon has potential for improving predictive models related to operational and safety limits. Consequently, this knowledge is expected to improve efficiency of light-water reactor operations. A novel borated nuclear-heated rodlet (BNHR) was designed to enable observation of transient cladding-to-coolant heat transfer phenomena. The final BNHR design takes a surrogate approach, wherein nuclear heating is induced by 10B(n, α) reactions rather than derived from fissions in a fueled specimen. The structure of the BNHR consists of a hollowed out borated (Bnat ∼ 2.05 wt%) stainless steel tube with an hourglass-shaped outer surface, capped at both ends with non-borated stainless steel. This geometry allows for inner-rodlet instrumentation and generation of the highest nuclear heating rates near the center of the rodlet to ensure onset of boiling near instrumentation for real-time observation. A novel approach to measuring the nuclear energy deposition rate in the BNHR separate and apart from the influence of the coolant, termed the n-α thermometer, is also detailed in this paper. This device has demonstrated excellent repeatability, and measurements indicate predictive modeling results for energy deposition in the BNHR rod agree within a 10% margin of the experiment measurements. These results give confidence that the BNHR design has successfully met experiment objectives.

AB - Separate-effects boiling experiments have recently been conducted in the Transient Reactor Test Facility at Idaho National Laboratory to investigate transient heating and irradiation effects on cladding-to-coolant heat transfer. Specifically, transient critical heat flux (CHF) remains an important area of research, and better understanding of this phenomenon has potential for improving predictive models related to operational and safety limits. Consequently, this knowledge is expected to improve efficiency of light-water reactor operations. A novel borated nuclear-heated rodlet (BNHR) was designed to enable observation of transient cladding-to-coolant heat transfer phenomena. The final BNHR design takes a surrogate approach, wherein nuclear heating is induced by 10B(n, α) reactions rather than derived from fissions in a fueled specimen. The structure of the BNHR consists of a hollowed out borated (Bnat ∼ 2.05 wt%) stainless steel tube with an hourglass-shaped outer surface, capped at both ends with non-borated stainless steel. This geometry allows for inner-rodlet instrumentation and generation of the highest nuclear heating rates near the center of the rodlet to ensure onset of boiling near instrumentation for real-time observation. A novel approach to measuring the nuclear energy deposition rate in the BNHR separate and apart from the influence of the coolant, termed the n-α thermometer, is also detailed in this paper. This device has demonstrated excellent repeatability, and measurements indicate predictive modeling results for energy deposition in the BNHR rod agree within a 10% margin of the experiment measurements. These results give confidence that the BNHR design has successfully met experiment objectives.

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ER -

A non-fueled nuclear-heated rod for in-pile transient boiling studies

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