ORNL-1816 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site

Analytical studies, layout work, and detail design
have proceeded on both the reactor assembly
and the installation for the Aircraft Reactor Test
(ART), formerly the Circulating-Fuel Reactor
Experiment (CFRE). Work has also continued on
the component development tests outlined in the
previous report. ' Reports have been completed on
the high-power-dens ity beryllium thermal stress
test and the first fuel-to-NaK heat exchanger
t e ~ t . Specifications ~ ~ ~ have been completed for
radiators to be used as heat dumps in heat exchanger
tests. It is expected that essentially the
same specifications can be used for procurement
of the radiators for the ART heat dumps and that
endurance test experience gained in the course
of these smal I heat exchanger component development
tests will establish the reliability of the
product of at least one vendor.
EXPANSION-TANK AND XENON-
REMOVAL SYSTEM
G. Samuels
Aircraft Reactor Engineering Division
W. Lowen, Consultani
Recent work on the expansion-tank, fuel-pump,
and xenon-removal system has been directed
primarily toward the development of a hydraulic
circuit that performs all the various functions required
of the system. The basic components and
their principal functions were described in an
earlier re~ort~ and may be summarized
2. REFLECTOR-MODERATED REACTOR
A. P. Fraas
Aircraft Reactor Engineering Division
?at Exchanger 1 est,
PERIOD ENDING DECEMBER 70, 7954
for the main fuel system with a liquid surface that
is stable for all attitudes (in flight); (3) a centri-
fuge cup integrally mounted on the back of each
fuel pump impeller for degassing the processed
fuel, pumping the processed fuel back into the
main system, and providing a seal for the fuel
Pump.
Several Lucite models that differ in cornponent
design and circuit arrangement have been built and
tested, and they have led to the design illustrated
in Fig. 2.1. In this model the swirl chamber is
mounted between the two fuel pumps ancl raised
above the centrifuge cups to assure their priming
under starting conditions. The swirl in the
chamber is produced in two v?ays: by nozzles located
in the swirl chamber floor and by swirl
pumps which are needed to maintain a high swirl
velocity when the fuel level rises above the 25%
full condition owing to thermal expansion in the
main system. The nozzles and swirl pumps are
arranged to deliver high-velocity fuel jets tcmgentially
at the periphery of the swirl chamber to give
good agitation and to assure a strong centrifugal
field and a stable free surface.
The nozzles serve both to meter the bleed flow
through the expansion tank and to control the fuel
pump suction pressure relative to the swirl chamber
gas pressure. This important function is perhaps
more evident in the schematic circuit analog presented
in Fig. 2.2. By tracing the bleed flow, it
can be seen that the pressure drop across the
nozzles approximates the heat exchanger resistance.
Consequently, the fuel pump suction pressure
is maintained near the helium pressure
existing in the swirl chamber.
The configuration of nozzles and part:: is so
Of L xenon -.
proportioned as to oversupply the centrifuge fuel
4R2. w. ~~~~~~d and A. p. F ~ ANP ~ euar. ~ prog. ~ ,
within the bleed circuit contributes toward stabilizing
the three free surfaces inherent in this
' Rep. Dec. 10, 1953, ORNL-1649, p 39, layout.
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