Experimental Investigation on CIRCE-HERO for the EU DEMO PbLi/Water Heat Exchanger Development

Pierdomenico Lorusso, Emanuela Martelli, Alessandro Del Nevo, Vincenzo Narcisi, Fabio Giannetti and Mariano Tarantino
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Pierdomenico Lorusso: ENEA FSN-ING-SIS—Department of Fusion and Nuclear Safety Technology, Experimental Engineering Division, Systems and Components Design Laboratory, C.R. Brasimone, 40032 Camugnano, Italy
Emanuela Martelli: ENEA FSN-FUSTEC-TES—Department of Fusion and Nuclear Safety Technology, Fusion Technology Division, Nuclear Technology Laboratory, C.R. Frascati, I-00044 Frascati, Italy
Alessandro Del Nevo: ENEA FSN-ING-SIS—Department of Fusion and Nuclear Safety Technology, Experimental Engineering Division, Systems and Components Design Laboratory, C.R. Brasimone, 40032 Camugnano, Italy
Vincenzo Narcisi: Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), 00186 Rome, Italy
Fabio Giannetti: Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), 00186 Rome, Italy
Mariano Tarantino: ENEA FSN-ING-SIS—Department of Fusion and Nuclear Safety Technology, Experimental Engineering Division, Systems and Components Design Laboratory, C.R. Brasimone, 40032 Camugnano, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: The present paper describes the experimental campaign executed at the ENEA Brasimone Research Centre aiming at supporting the development of a PbLi/water heat exchanger suitable for the lithium–lead loops of the dual coolant lithium lead and the water cooled lithium lead breeding blankets of the EU DEMO fusion reactor. The experiments were performed in a test section named HERO, installed inside the main vessel of the lead–bismuth eutectic-cooled pool-type facility CIRCE. The test section hosts a steam generator bayonet tube mock-up in relevant scale, which was selected as a promising configuration for DEMO purposes. For the thermal-hydraulic characterization of the component, five tests were executed at different water pressures (6, 8, 12 MPa, two tests at 10 MPa), and liquid metal flow rates (40, 33, 27, 20, 10 kg/s). The experimental outcomes proved the technological feasibility of this novel steam generator and its suitability for the DEMO PbLi loops. The activity was completed with a post-test analysis using two versions of the system code RELAP5. Because the experiments were executed with lead–bismuth eutectic, a scaling analysis is proposed to find the equivalence with PbLi. RELAP5 code was applied to recalculate the experimental data using PbLi as working fluid.

Keywords: EU DEMO fusion reactor; heavy liquid metal technology; steam generator bayonet tube (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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