Reactor coolants thermophysical properties

Technical Appendices, which provides readers with additional information and data on current nuclear power reactors and NPPs thermophysical properties of reactor coolants, thermophysical properties of fluids at suhcritical and critical/supercritical pressures, heat transfer and pressure drop in forced convection to fluids at supercritical pressures, world experience in nuclear steam reheat, etc. 

ON THE CHANGE IN CERTAIN THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MONO-ISOPROPYLDIPHENYL AND HYDROTERPHENYL DURING RADIOLYSIS. FROM RESEARCH ON THE USE OF ORGANIC COOLANT-MODERATORS IN NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS. PART II. THERMOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 

Table 4.1. Thermophysical properties common reactor coolants...

For NPP layouts and T-s diagrams, see Appendix A1 and for thermophysical properties of reactor coolants see Appendix A2. 

Subcritical pressure H2O is very well known and is the most used reactor coolant. Due to that, it will be used in the subsequent comparisons as a reference case. In general, D2O has many thermophysical properties and behaviors that are close to those of H2O (for details, see Table A2.3). However, D2O has a significantly lower neutron capture cross section compared to H2O, which allows for more thorough moderation. Therefore, only the heat transfer characteristics of subcritical pressure D2O will be compared with those of other coolants. 

In the next section, a comparison of the main thermophysical properties will be conducted for all the coolants mentioned above. The range of temperatures investigated covers the operating ranges of the corresponding reactors (see Tables A2.1 and A2.2, and Fig. A2.4). Basic averaged parameters for the coolants used in each of the reactors utilized are listed in Table A2.4. 

In this section, a comparison of the main thermophysical properties of various coolants for Generation IV reactor systems is presented. It is important to note that the basic properties are shown for a wide range of temperatures (from 250 to 1000°C) that covers the operating ranges of current and Generation IV reactors (see Fig. A2.4 and Tables A2.1 and A2.2). 

Before comparing thermophysical properties of the coolants, it is reasonable to have a general overview of the desired characteristics of a generic reactor coolant. Nuclear reactors have certain specific requirements for coolants, such as ... 

In Table 2.1 the selection criteria and associated properties of fast reactor coolants are described. In this section a selection of thermal, physical, and chemical properties (mainly those relevant for the assessment of corrosion behavior) are discussed, while for a complete overview of these properties a number of handbooks, monographs, and reference articles are available in the open literature [15—17]. Table 2.5 summarizes main thermophysical and chemical data of the liquid Na, Pb, and Pb-Bi. 

Liquid metals are considered as efficient coolants in some fast neutron breeder reactor concepts due to their excellent thermophysical and neutron properties [36]. As already mentioned, the Generation IV reference liquid metal coolants are sodium, lead, and lead-bismuth eutectic. Some challenging corrosion issues are also studied in the molten salts and supercritical water environments. 

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