Experimental Breeder Reactor-41

The first experimental breeder reactor (EBR-1), which was the first reactor to generate electricity on a practical basis, went into operation in 1951 at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. After the first reactor was damaged by a power excursion, EBR-11 was put into operation in 1961 (57). As of early 1995 it continued to operate very well. 

The CREDO data base contains data from The Fast Flux Test Facility in Richland, Washington, The Experimental Breeder Reactor - II in Idaho Falls, Idaho, The test loops of the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) in Canoga Park, California, The JOYO Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor at the 0-Arai Engineering Center (OEC) in Japan, and the test loops of OEC. 

Nuclear power is a relatively new source of energy. The first electrical power production from a nuclear reactor occurred on 20 December, 1951, in Idaho at the Experimental Breeder Reactor Number 1 (EBR-1), and since that time nuclear science and technology have had a tremendous impact on the 20th century (Ewing... 

The Experimental Breeder Reactor EBR-1 was the first power reactor and the first fast neutron reactor. It was put in service in 1951 on the site of Idaho in the United-States and it became the world s first electricity-generating nuclear power plant when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs. 

The first-cycle raffinate wastes produced at the ICPP are the acid aluminum waste from various test reactor fuels, fluoride-bearing waste from zirconium-matrix fuel, a small amount of stainless steel sulfate waste from fuel from developmental reactors such as the Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment (OMRE), acid stainless steel nitrate waste from the electrolytic dissolution of Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) reactor fuel, and an acid waste from the recovery of uranium... 

A longitudinal cut with a remotely operated milling cutter was used to remove stainless steel jackets from uranium metal fuel rods in the first core of the Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 [Cl 8]. 

H7, Hesson, J. C., M. J. Feldman, and L. Burris, Jr., Description and Proposed Operation of Fuel Cycle Facility for Second Experimental Breeder Reactor, Report ANL-6605, Apr. 1963. 

Sodium, used as a heat transfer fluid, can most effectively remove heat from a fast breeder reactor. Development work on sodium handling at Argonne National Laboratory in 1945 led to the first turbine-electric power from nuclear energy in 1951. This paper presents the engineering mock-up of the experimental breeder reactor II and illustrates associated pumps, valves, and instrumentation. The past year s successful operation of the EBR-II mock-up has demonstrated that sodium technology is adequate for the job. Properly used, sodium may be the key to the problem of really using the elusive atom. 

I he use of sodium and sodium-potassium alloys as reactor coolants has been the subject of a substantial amount of research and development. This has been carried out by various laboratories of the Atomic Energy Commission and subcontractors, in conjimction with nuclear plants such as the experimental breeder reactor and the prototype for the Seawolf power plant. A by-product of this work has been the development of new techniques and equipment for handling liquid metals. 

Lindsay, R. W., and Staffon, J. D. (1988), A Model Based Display System for the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II, Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the American Nuclear Society and the European Nuclear Society (Washington, DC). 

DECOMMISSIONING EXPERIENCE FROM THE EXPERIMENTAL BREEDER REACTOR-II... 

The Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) was designed as a 62.5 MWt, metal fueled, pool reactor with a conventional 19 MWe power plant. The productive life of the EBR-II began with first operations in 1964. Demonstration of the fast reactor fuel cycle, serving as an irradiation facility, demonstration of fast reactor passive safety and lastly, was well on its way to close the fast breeder fuel cycle for the second time when the Integral Fast Reactor program was prematurely ended in October 1994 with the shutdown of the EBR-II. 

Koch, L. J., Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) An Integrated Experimental Fast Reactor Power Station, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois. 

To meet the passive safety requirements of the NGNP, the AHTR uses a reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system (RVACS) similar to that of S-PRISM. It may also use a direct reactor auxiliary cooling system (DRAGS) similar to what was used in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II to supplement the RVACS and reduce the reactor vessel temperature. 

It is also possible to supplement the RVACS heat removal capacity using a direct reactor auxiliary cooling system (DRAGS) based on natural circulation of an intermediate coolant from bayonet heat exchangers in the reactor vessel to air-cooled heat exchangers. This type of DRAGS system was used in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) with sodium-potasium as the intermediate coolant. There are a variety of potential intermediate coolants, several of which have been used extensively in industry for similar heat transfer applications. 

Reactor oscillator method. The real power of this general method of analysis, however, stems from the fact that it may be inverted in order to obtain the quantity H(joi) experimentally, and thus in principle to determine the function K t). The method was first suggested in 1954 by Hurwitz and Brooks as a method for investigating the stability of the first Experimental Breeder Reactor. If we solve equation (12) for H(s) we find ... 

Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBR-I), the FR that succeeded in generating electricity for the first time in the world. Then, four light bulbs were lit (Argonne National Laboratory 2002)... 

The concept of a liquid metal-cooled reactor dates back to the genesis of nuclear energy. The first nuclear reactor to generate electricity was the liquid sodium-potassium-cooled fast reactor Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBR-1) [5]. EBR-Fs successor, the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) EBR-11 operated successfully for over 30 years, producing 20 MW of electricity via a sodium-steam power cycle [6]. 

Idaho National Laboratory, EBR-I Fact Sheet, 08-GA50050-05-R3 R2-12,2006. https //factsheets. inl.gov/Fact%20Sheets/experimental-breeder-reactor-l.pdf. 

The sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) uses liquefied sodium as the primary coolant. The major advantage is that the reactor can operate at atmospheric pressure in the primary coolant loop. The ultimate inherent safety of this reactor, when using metallic (not oxide) uranium fuel, was demonstrated in 1986 with the Experimental Breeder Reactor 11 at the Idaho National Laboratory, under the direction of Argonne National Laboratory. 

---