Direct leakage current

The ability of sodium-cooled reactors to produce steam at current commercial conditions of superheat and pressure has resulted in considerable design effort to prevent this direct leakage. At present, two methods are available to reduce the probability of direct leakage to a safe level. The first of these employs an intermediate alkali-metal heat-transfer system between the sodium reactor coolant and the steam generating system. This method is generally applicable only when space limitations are not present. 

Figure 5-6. The relationships of leakage current and EOT. Solid line in (c) is the calculated direct tunneling current of p-Si/SiOi/metal structure. (Reproduced with permission from ref 26. Copyright 2003 The Japan Society of Applied Physics)...

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