Support deployment of Heavy Liquid Metal (HLM) cooled advanced reactors in Europe

• Support ALFRED and MYRRHA pre licensing
• Use maturity of design to take concrete steps towards PSAR

Specific objectives:

• Use state of the art and design status to do thorough PIRT
• Focus on key safety issues
• Validation of safety related components and procedures
• Outlook towards society

Thorough PIRT analyses as starting point for safety evaluation

• PIRT methodology and development, Reference design and initiating events selection, Numerical evaluation of selected scenarios and creation of R&D roadmap for V&V needs

Safety related experiments for grid and wire spaced fuel assemblies

• Grid spaced fuel bundle heat transfer characterization in lead : experiments & numerical modelling
• Wire spaced fuel bundle heat transfer research : generation of a database of experiments , new measurements and modelling of a MYRRHA representative wire spaced fuel bundle and assessment of CFD uncertainty and guidelines for CFD simulations

Validation or development of key Safety related systems

• Safety rod validation in flowing LBE and numerical modelling
• Failed fuel pin detection development in HLM via noble gas detection and/or fission products
• Validation of oxygen control systems in LBE and Pb

Development of NDUS inspection for LFR up to 400°C

Assessment of the impact of HLM cooled systems on society

• Energy use
• Social and ethical considerations of advanced nuclear technology

Stakeholder interaction

• Summer schools and lecture series
• Stakeholder workshop

Project has just had kick off meeting

SCK CEN (B) / ENEA (I) / NRG (NL) / KIT (G) / VKI (B) / ANSALDO Nucleare (I) / CRS4 (I) / RATEN-ICN (Ro) / CIRTEN(I) / Politecnico Milano (I) / UniRoma (I) / UniPisa (I) /Kaunas Tech Uni (Lt) / Empresarios Agrupados (E)/
Uni Pitesti (Ro) / JRC (EU) / PSI (CH)

09/2022  –  08/2026 – 4 years

Technical Project Leader:

Paul Schuurmans (SCK CEN) Email: Paul.Schuurmans@sckcen.be

This project has received funding from the Horizon Euratom programme 2021-NRT01 under grant agreement No 101061185