Core thermal-hydraulic analysis during dipped-type direct heat exchanger operation in natural circulation conditions

Hamase, Erina ; Doda, Norihiro  ; Ono, Ayako ; Tanaka, Masaaki  ; Miyake, Yasuhiro*; Imai, Yasutomo*

To enhance the safety of sodium-cooled fast reactors, a dipped-type direct heat exchanger (D-DHX) has been investigated in a natural circulation decay heat removal system. During the D-DHX operation, the core-plenum interactions occurs, therefore, a thermal-hydraulic analysis model in the reactor vessel for computational fluid dynamics code (RV-CFD model) is necessarily required. In this study, the application of the subchannel analysis method for subassemblies to the RV-CFD model was attempted to reduce the calculation costs. Analysis results were compared to the experimental data obtained in the sodium experimental apparatus PLANDTL-1. As the result, the behavior of cold sodium into the simulated core was well grasped and the calculated sodium temperature in the core had good agreement with the experimental result. The applicability of the RV-CFD model was confirmed.