The R&D Programs of Maintenance Technology for FBR Monju Using the Sodium Engineering Research Facility

ナトリウム工学研究施設における高速炉の保全技術開発

猿田 晃一   ; 山口 智彦 ; 上田 雅司 

Saruta, Koichi; Yamaguchi, Toshihiko; Ueda, Masashi

In 2015 Japan Atomic Energy Agency has introduced a new facility to conduct a variety of research and development activities in a sodium environment at Tsuruga, Fukui-prefecture, where the demonstration of the prototype fast reactor Monju is ongoing since the achievement of the first criticality in 1994. This facility, named Sodium Engineering Research Facility (SERF), accommodates a large-scale and a small-scale sodium circulation loop system, glove boxes, and multipurpose test cells in a three-story building, occupying a 700-square-meter area. The primary missions of SERF are: to develop inspection and maintenance technologies for a sodium-cooled fast reactor, with an emphasis on improving the safety and reliability of the operation and the handling techniques for the sodium coolant; to provide fundamental understandings of phenomena observed in a severe accident; and to support the operation of Monju by providing solutions to technical problems and potential development needs. In this paper we present an overview of SERF and some of the research and development programs that are currently under consideration.