Reaction, transport and settling behavior of lead-bismuth eutectic in flowing liquid sodium

Miyahara, Shinya  ; Ohno, Shuji  ; Yamamoto, Nobuhiro; Saito, Junichi  ; Hirabayashi, Masaru

The experimental study has been carried out to investigate reaction, transport and settling behavior of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) in flowing liquid sodium. In the test, 168 g of LBE were poured into flowing sodium from the top of a vertical-type sodium loop which contained 23.2 kg of sodium. The initial temperature of LBE and sodium was 673 K. The flow rate and the maximum velocity of sodium in the loop were controlled and measured at 20 dm/min and 1 m/sec, respectively, using an electro-magnetic pump and an electro-magnetic flow meter. The sodium loop has a settling chamber at the lower part to investigate the concentration decrease behavior of solid particle reaction products in the sodium due to the settling effect. The concentration was measured by sodium sampling from the 11 positions of the loop during the experiment and its post-test chemical analysis. The temperature changes at the various parts of the loop were also measured during the experiment by thermo-couples attached on the outer surface of the loop. Ultrasonic detectors were attached on the outer surface of the loop below the position of a LBE pour nozzle to demonstrate the utility as a leak detector.