In spring 2020, INL engineers, led by Carlo Parisi, began designing a microreactor test facility called Microreactor Applications Research Validation (MARVEL).
The MARVEL microreactor project at Idaho National Laboratory , US, has successfully concluded its three-month coolant system testing campaign.In spring 2020, INL engineers, led by Carlo Parisi, began designing a microreactor test facility called Microreactor Applications Research Validation .
The testing was done using the Primary Coolant Apparatus Test , which is a non-nuclear facility.“MARVEL has a unique combination of fuel, coolant and geometrical configuration that has never been used by any other reactor,” Parisi said. “It was crucial to create this mock-up for testing because there was nothing similar anywhere in the world for comparison,” Parisi added. The testing campaign for the cooling system has confirmed its viability.Coolant system validity MARVEL is said to be a sodium-potassium-cooled microreactor. A key aspect of MARVEL’s design is its natural circulation passive cooling mechanism. The microreactor cools itself using a natural process, similar to how hot air rises in a chimney, rather than relying on traditional pumps.That’s why the INL team built this one-of-a-kind, non-nuclear facility, PCAT.The PCAT testing aimed to prove the feasibility of this system, which is important for preventing overheating of the nuclear fuel.PCAT is like a near-exact model of MARVEL’s primary coolant loop. It uses electricity to generate heat, mimicking the reactor’s thermal behavior without any nuclear material. This allows engineers to safely and thoroughly validate every component.Over a rigorous three-month campaign, the PCAT put MARVEL’s design to the test. Finally, the tests verified a stable natural circulation flow, confirming MARVEL’s ability to safely produce up to 100 kilowatts of thermal power.“If the natural circulation mechanism works in PCAT, it is expected to work even better in MARVEL, thanks to its superior heat removal capacity,” Parisi said.Challenges faced Apart from validating the cooling mechanism, the PCAT campaign also served to rigorously test INL’s thermal-hydraulic design and safety analysis software, RELAP5-3D.The experimental data aligned closely with the software’s numerical predictions.“The more accurate the software is, the more we are confident in its predictions of operational and accidental events,” Parisi said.While the tests showed encouraging results, they also uncovered an unexpected issue: more heat was lost in the PCAT system than expected. “This is an important lesson for assembling MARVEL, as understanding and accounting for these heat losses will influence the reactor’s performance and efficiency. Heat losses are bad because they can decrease the reactor’s efficiency, similar to how poor insulation in a house can lead to higher heating costs,” Parisi explained. The project has faced and overcome challenges along the way. Earlier in its development, the team encountered issues with Stirling engines initially intended for heat removal.The engines‘ vibrations and noise levels sparked reliability concerns. Therefore, the team redesigned the tertiary cooling system, opting for a more stable, radiator-like setup as a replacement.The PCAT test results confirm the safety margins in the nuclear microreactor‘s design are sufficient. They will now move forward with submitting the necessary safety documentation to the Department of Energy, clearing the way for the reactor’s construction.With the successful completion of PCAT testing, the MARVEL project is now on track for its next phases: fabrication, assembly, and startup at INL’s Transient Reactor Test Facility.The full power operations are expected to begin in 2028.
Energy &Amp Environment Inventions And Machines MARVEL Microreactor Project Nuclear Energy PCAT Primary Coolant Apparatus Test
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