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European Sodium Fast Reactor Safety Measures Assessment and Research Tools

Fact Sheet

Reporting

Results

Project information

ESFR-SMART

Grant agreement ID: 754501

Project website

Status

Ongoing project

Start date

1 September 2017
End date

31 August 2021

Funded under:

H2020-Euratom-1.1.

Overall budget:

€ 9 911 150
EU contribution

€ 5 000 000

Coordinated by:

PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT

Switzerland

Objective

To improve the public acceptance of the future nuclear power in Europe we have to demonstrate that the new reactors have significantly higher safety level compared to traditional reactors. The ESFR-SMART project (European Sodium Fast Reactor Safety Measures Assessment and Research Tools) aims at enhancing further the safety of Generation-IV SFRs and in particular of the commercial-size European Sodium Fast Reactor (ESFR) in accordance with the ESNII roadmap and in close cooperation with the ASTRID program. The project aims at 5 specific objectives:
1) Produce new experimental data in order to support calibration and validation of the computational tools for each defence-in-depth level.
2) Test and qualify new instrumentations in order to support their utilization in the reactor protection system.
3) Perform further calibration and validation of the computational tools for each defence-in-depth level in order to support safety assessments of Generation-IV SFRs, using the data produced in the project as well as selected legacy data.
4) Select, implement and assess new safety measures for the commercial-size ESFR, using the GIF methodologies, the FP7 CP-ESFR project legacy, the calibrated and validated codes and being in accordance with the update of the European and international safety frameworks taking into account the Fukushima accident.
5) Strengthen and link together new networks, in particular, the network of the European sodium facilities and the network of the European students working on the SFR technology.
Close interactions with the main European and international SFR stakeholders (GIF, ARDECo, ESNII and IAEA) via the Advisory Review Panel will enable reviews and recommendations on the project’s progress as well as dissemination of the new knowledge created by the project. By addressing the industry, policy makers and general public, the project is expected to make a meaningful impact on economics, EU policy and society.

Field of Science

/natural sciences/chemical sciences/inorganic chemistry/inorganic compounds

/social sciences/economics and business

/social sciences/economics and business/economics

Programme(s)

H2020-Euratom-1.1. - Support safe operation of nuclear systems

Topic(s)

NFRP-2 - Research on safety of fast neutron Generation-IV reactors

Call for proposal

NFRP-2016-2017-1

See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

RIA - Research and Innovation action

Coordinator

PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT

Address

Forschungstrasse 111
5232 Villigen Psi

Switzerland

Activity type

Research Organisations

EU Contribution

€ 575 934

Website

Contact the organisation

Participants (19)

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ENERGY, SAFETY AND RISK CONSULTANTS (UK) LIMITED

United Kingdom

EU Contribution

€ 79 458

AREVA NP SAS

France

EU Contribution

€ 4 443

COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES

France

EU Contribution

€ 676 641

CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIONES ENERGETICAS, MEDIOAMBIENTALES Y TECNOLOGICAS-CIEMAT

Spain

EU Contribution

€ 108 806

CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLA AB

Sweden

EU Contribution

€ 52 300

ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE

France

EU Contribution

€ 225 500

AGENZIA NAZIONALE PER LE NUOVE TECNOLOGIE, L'ENERGIA E LO SVILUPPO ECONOMICO SOSTENIBILE

Italy

EU Contribution

€ 124 381

GESELLSCHAFT FUR ANLAGEN UND REAKTORSICHERHEIT (GRS) gGmbH

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 100 747

HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM DRESDEN-ROSSENDORF EV

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 473 563

LATVIJAS UNIVERSITATE

Latvia

EU Contribution

€ 52 125

INSTITUT DE RADIOPROTECTION ET DE SURETE NUCLEAIRE

France

EU Contribution

€ 242 690

JRC -JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE- EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Belgium

EU Contribution

€ 646 625

KARLSRUHER INSTITUT FUER TECHNOLOGIE

Germany

EU Contribution

€ 890 781

UNIVERSITE DE LORRAINE

France

EU Contribution

€ 129 770

LGI CONSULTING

France

EU Contribution

€ 201 125

NATIONAL NUCLEAR LABORATORY LIMITED

United Kingdom

EU Contribution

€ 66 094

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARSOF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

United Kingdom

EU Contribution

€ 95 156

UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID

Spain

EU Contribution

€ 51 977

FRAMATOME

France

EU Contribution

€ 201 884

Project information

ESFR-SMART

Grant agreement ID: 754501

Project website

Status

Ongoing project

Start date

1 September 2017
End date

31 August 2021

Funded under:

H2020-Euratom-1.1.

Overall budget:

€ 9 911 150
EU contribution

€ 5 000 000

Coordinated by:

PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT

Switzerland

Project information

ESFR-SMART

Grant agreement ID: 754501

Project website

Status

Ongoing project

Start date

1 September 2017
End date

31 August 2021

Funded under:

H2020-Euratom-1.1.

Overall budget:

€ 9 911 150
EU contribution

€ 5 000 000

Coordinated by:

PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT

Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ESFR-SMART (European Sodium Fast Reactor Safety Measures Assessment and Research Tools)

Reporting period: 2017-09-01 to 2019-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The problem addressed is a need for a new safe, reliable, sustainable, economical, and clean technology for generating electricity. The project is important for the society because it proposes such technology based on European Sodium Fast Reactor (ESFR) which is expected to be better compared to existing electricity generation technologies in terms of safety (due to high level of passive self-protection provided by the selected design and materials); reliability (due to simple design and high requirements to manufacturing); sustainability (due to availability of fuel resources for several millennia and waste minimization); economical (due to high availability, high electric power); and environmentally clean (due to absence of CO2 emission).
The project aims at 5 overall objectives:
1) Produce new experimental data to support calibration and validation of computational tools.
2) Test and qualify an advanced concept of the eddy-current flow meter aimed at the channel blockage detection.
3) Perform further calibration and validation of computational tools to support safety assessments of the technology.
4) Select and assess new safety measures for ESFR in accordance with European and international safety frameworks.
5) Strengthen and link together new networks, in particular, of European sodium facilities and of European students.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"WP1 ""New safety measures"" aims at providing a consistent set of new safety measures for ESFR to be assessed in other Work Packages (WP) and to monitor the consistency of different R&D studies. During the first 18 months, the new reactor and core designs (Figs. 1-3) featuring new safety measures were described in two reports.

WP2 ""Normal operation"" aims at assessing the impact of new safety measures on normal operation; evaluating safety parameters; and providing neutronics data for other WPs. During the first 18 months, the first objective was fulfilled and reported in a deliverable. The reactivity coefficients at the end of the equilibrium fuel cycle are under preparation. The fuel performance benchmark is ongoing.

WP3 ""Measures to prevent sodium boiling"" aims at investigating transition from forced to natural circulation in primary pool and evaluating performance of pumps, decay heat removal systems and passive core shutdown system for the selected transients. During the first 18 months, a list of the missing design data and initial list of transients were established. The computer models of the whole reactor system have been under development and steady state simulations and their comparison has started (Figs. 4-5).

WP4 ""Measures to prevent severe accidents"" aims at assessing the potential for establishing chugging boiling conditions during the unprotected loss of flow accident; assessing the occurrence of pressure waves caused by boiling; estimating the core geometry distortions and corresponding reactivity effects. During the first 18 months, the thermal mechanical model of the reactor core coupled to the neutronics model has been under development in frame of the PhD study.

WP5 ""Measures to mitigate severe accidents"" aims at evaluating the measures to mitigate severe accidents, in particular the reactor behavior in a hypothetical event of simultaneous failures of all primary pumps and core protection system. During the first 18 months, the work has started on modeling of the core degradation and movement of the molten materials to the core catcher device taking into account the dedicated transfer tubes from the core towards the core catcher.

WP6 ""Codes calibration and validation"" aims at performing further calibration and verification of computational tools used for SFR safety assessments. During the first 18 months, several benchmarks dedicated to core neutronics (Superphenix start-up tests), sodium thermal hydraulics (KNS-L22 sodium boiling test), molten fuel thermodynamics (SCARABEE BF1 in-pile test of fresh UO2 molten pool) and source term (NALA, FAUST and FANAL tests on fission product release) were launched.

WP7 ""New experiments for safety"" aims at producing and analysing new safety-related data. During the first 18 months, the KASOLA sodium facility has been under commissioning tests; the CHUG steam-water facility has been built and first experiments on chugging boiling have been done; and the KARIFA sodium facility has been designed; the JIMEC, HanSoLo (Fig. 6) and LIVE tests on modeling of the molten core material interaction with the core catcher have been under preparation.

WP8 ""European sodium facilities support"" aims at creating a new network for the exchange of information on the sodium technology; defining operating procedures; reviewing activities on sodium technologies ongoing worldwide; analysing synergies with other light liquid metals; studying sodium fire extinguishing means; and supporting safe operation of sodium facilities by favouring human mobility. During the first 18 months, the design guidelines were reported in a deliverable and the work on the review of the worldwide technologies has started.

WP9 ""Instrumentation for safety"" aims at qualifying eddy-current flow meters (ECFM) with the goal to further develop such sensors for realistic sodium reactor conditions. During the first 18 months, test series with various modifications of such ECFM have been successfully realized, a new pool-"

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The progress beyond the state of the art was the newly proposed ESFR design. The results expected until the end of the project will include the evaluation of this design from performance and safety viewpoints as well as generation of the new data and completion of the benchmarks aiming at the code calibration and validation. The potential economic and societal impacts are expected, in particular via simplification of the ESFR design as well as dissemination and education activities.

Fig. 4. ESFR primary system nodalization diagram

Fig. 1. ESFR core radial map

Fig. 8. Group photos at the project kick-off meeting: Brussels in September 2017

Fig. 2. ESFR core axial map

Fig. 6. Example of ablation and speed evolution in HAnSoLO experiment

Fig. 5. ESFR secondary system nodalization diagram

Fig. 7. pool experiment without the liquid metal (a) and scheme of the measurement setup (b)

Fig. 3. General view of ESFR systems with proposed modifications

Project information

ESFR-SMART

Grant agreement ID: 754501

Project website

Status

Ongoing project

Start date

1 September 2017
End date

31 August 2021

Funded under:

H2020-Euratom-1.1.

Overall budget:

€ 9 911 150
EU contribution

€ 5 000 000

Coordinated by:

PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT

Project information

ESFR-SMART

Grant agreement ID: 754501

Project website

Status

Ongoing project

Start date

1 September 2017
End date

31 August 2021

Funded under:

H2020-Euratom-1.1.

Overall budget:

€ 9 911 150
EU contribution

€ 5 000 000

Coordinated by:

PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT

Switzerland

Project information

ESFR-SMART

Grant agreement ID: 754501

Project website

Status

Ongoing project

Start date

1 September 2017
End date

31 August 2021

Funded under:

H2020-Euratom-1.1.

Overall budget:

€ 9 911 150
EU contribution

€ 5 000 000

Coordinated by:

PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUT

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Last update: 11 December 2019

Record number: 210824

CORDIS

Project information

Objective

Coordinator

Participants (19)

Project information

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Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ESFR-SMART (European Sodium Fast Reactor Safety Measures Assessment and Research Tools)

Project information

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Publications

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CORDIS

Project information

Objective

Coordinator

Participants (19)

Project information

Project information

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ESFR-SMART (European Sodium Fast Reactor Safety Measures Assessment and Research Tools)

Project information

Project information

Deliverables

Publications

Project information

Project information

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