Development of intermediate heat exchanger for high temperature engineering test reactor

Hamamoto, Shimpei  ; Saikusa, Akio ; Shinohara, Masanori ; Tachibana, Yukio 

The intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) is one of the high temperature components of the HTTR and a helium-helium type heat exchanger with the heat capacity of 10 MW. The internal structures such as heat transfer tubes made of Hastelloy XR are used normally at the temperature higher than 900C. They compose the pressure boundary between the primary and secondary helium. Their creep strain and creep damage are evaluated based on the high temperature structural design guideline. The IHX is the first high temperature heat exchanger applied to the reactor. Therefore, Research and development works on the IHX were carried out to confirm the structural integrity of the IHX elements as follows. Experimental and analytical studies were carried out to confirm the structural integrity of the IHX as follows: (1) creep collapse of the tube against external pressure, (2) creep fatigue of the tube against thermal stress, (3) seismic behavior of the tube bundles, (4) thermal hydraulic behavior of the tube bundles and (5) in-service inspection technology of the tube. This report describes the objective and component tests procedure on the IHX and its results.