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ORNL-TM-2953.txt
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O\ __;_;ZEOAK ""IDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY
R operated by s e
""‘;:V.'UNION CARBlDE CORPORATION . NUCLEAR DIVISION s
AU fo,. Ihe e | .
U_S.;ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION |
ORNL m 2953
- RECEWED BY oTiE S asimh T @
A NEW APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF STEAM GENERATORS L
i FOR MOLTEN SALT REACTOR POWER PLANTS _; - )
arres
- Nfllltf Ti‘us document 'contmns information: of @ prehmmury nafure_-}-— L
‘and ‘was ‘prepared pmncnly for internal use at the Oak Ridge Nationol - = © 7 .
Laboratory. lt-is -subject to revision or correction ond therefore does S
- .not rePresent a final report.” - .
- ISTRBUTON OF THS DOCUNET IS URLATED
This report. was prepared .as an account of work sponsored by.the United | - . -~ .. o
States Government. Neither the United States nor the United States Atomic | -~~~ 7 = &~
Energy Commission, nor any _df their employees, nor any of their contractors, B : C '
subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or | ) - o . gfl
assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or | =~~~ = = - S .
usefulness of any information, -apparatus, product or process disclosed, or | = - ' : RN '
represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights, '
)
ks 4 ‘f'
4)
ORNL-TM-2953
Contract No. W-TL05-eng-26
A NEW APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF STEAM GENERATORS
FOR MOLTEN SALT REACTOR POWER PLANTS
A. P. Fraas
© | This report was prepared as an account of work
: .} sponsored by the United States Government. Neither
i the United States nor the United States Atomic Energy
"1 {1 Commission, nor any of their employees, nor any of
I their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees,
¢ { makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any
legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, com-
‘pleteness or usefulness of any information, apparatus,
product or process disclosed, or represents that its use
.} would not infringe privately owned rights, - SN
~ JUNE 1971
OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY
Oak'Ridge, Tennessee
Operated by
UNION CARBIDE COPERATION
- for the
U. S ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
DISTRIBUTION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS UNLI
.
¢
<)
«j)
ABSTRACT ...... tisecessieocrsnrnonrosuy e Ceeeaieiecsiacnaras v
INTRODUCTION e eeesmenennanannnenns . ...
REVIEW OF BOILER DESIGNS PROPOSED FOR MOLTEN SALT REACTOR ..... ‘o
SYSTEMS
Conventional Shell-and- Tube Heat Exchangers e eneneeann eeneoe
Supercritical Pressure Unlts Ceececccsssaneannas ;...;........
Double-Walled Tubes with & Heat DA o.le.eueneen.. celiesanes
Flash Boiler .....;..,....g....,........} ........ e
Loeffler Boiler ....... esesienenns Cesseaanaa fi....,....; ...... ;
Triple Tube Boiler ...ccevess cieseans chedsectrsrence vecassseas
Reentry Tube Boiler ............ e enene s et eeraeens
' DESIGN FOR GOOD STAEBILITY AND CONTROL CHARACTERISTICS . .ovvewen...
Molten Salt Temperatures at Part Load . Ceetasseseneneea ces
Effects of Mode of Control on Steam Temperatures at eresssens
Part Load :
Heat Tragnsfer Instdbilities and Thermal Stresses ............
Flow Stability'Considérations Ceetieisietisetatrae s e
Heat Transfer Analysis ,...; ................. Leetersaceasanna
- Typical Calculatiofis e PR [
Heat Transfer CORFFficients .........e.ee... e
Temperature Differences'and Heat FLUXES +.oovvveennnnnns
| Pressure DroD v.veeeeevessoeneeeeens e ieeaaeeeens
SEstlmated.Perfonmance”Characteriétics eereeientaaresaeaanne
Effects of DeSign'Heat‘Load on Tube Length ....... PRI
Effects of De31gn Heat Load on Temperature .......ceoe..
Dlstrlbutlon , _
Effects of Part Load Operation ........ .......;.;..;..;;
Pressure Drop and ‘Pressure Distribution .,.; ........ e
- Effects of the Fraction of Heat Added in the e ean e
Inner Tube 7
Effects of Slze Of Heat Increment Used .o.eeveveeeeennns _
Turbine Control Considerations .;..........,....;;.; .........
ILimitations on Rates of Change in Ivad .......ccv0eveeee
Startup and Rates of Change of
System
Possibility of Eliminating the Throttle Valve ......... .
Proposed Design for a Molten Salt Reactor Plant ........ ceoae
' Reheateré cereecratasiaeaas s ......;..;..........;...
General Description .......... e e ereenanaaaas ;.,.
Headering Problems ....;..Q....,..................,....;
Differential Therfiél Expansion {..:....' ...... ceseeene ves
‘Geometric and Performance Data .......... e eeeneenetees
_ Cosf Estimate- .............. ; ............................
Conclusibns .................................................
Récomméndgtions ........................................... .o
REFERENCES ..¢veeveeenncccnaasca cietsescensesassanus .
»
iv
Load with Proposed ......
Page
51
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55 °
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-
61
65
65
67 B
e
&)
o) @’ - C _
)
)
A NEW APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF STEAM GENERATORS
- FOR MOLTEN SALT REACTOR POWER PLANTS
A P, Fraas
ABSTRACT |
A new type of steam generator has been dev1sed to meet
'the special requirements of high-temperature liquid metal and
- molten salt reactor systems, The basic design concept is such
that bolling heat transfer instabilities and their attendant
severe thermal stresses are avolded even for a temperature -
difference of as much as 1000°F between the feedwater and the
high-temperature liquid, thus giving good control characteris-
tics even under startup conditions. This is accomplished by
'employing a vertical reentry tube geometry with the feedwater
entering the bottom of the inner small diameter tube (~1/4 in.
diam) through which it flows upward until evaporated to dry-
‘ness. The slightly superheated steam emerging from the top
of the small central tube then flows back downward through the
annulus between the central tube and the outer tube. A por-
tion of the heat transferred from the high-temperature liquid
- to the superheated steam in the annulus is in turn transferred
- to the water boiling in the central tube. Design studies in-
‘dicate that this type of boiler not only avoids thermal stress
and salt freezing problems but it also gives a relatively com-
pact and inexpensive construction. Further, it appears to make
possible a simple plant control system with exceptlonally good
plant response to changes in load demand
" INTRODUCTION
It has been'apparenthinceVearly in the'molten salt reactor develop-
ment work that the high melting point of the fluoride salt sultable as
fuel for molten salt reactOrS”coupled with the thermal stress problems
"inherent in high—temperature liquid systems pose some exceedingly diffi-
'“cult problems in the design of steam generators.! These are compounded -
by the complexities of two—phase flow and heat transfer problems under
'rboiling conditions, possible difficulties with b01ling flow instabilities,
and_thevproblems of obtaining good boiler operating characteristics for
a wide range of both full power design steam temperatures and pressures
and under the much reduced'pressare‘and temperature conditions inherent
in startup and part load operation, Many different attempts to design
boilers for molten salt reactor systems hare been made,! ® but each of
the approaches proposed has had some serious disadvantages. The startup
and part load control problems in particular have been so formidable, in
fact, that3nofattempt:hashbeec made tQVSO1Ve‘tfiem for many of the'designs
that have been proposed‘—-Oniy full load'desdgn conditions-hare been con-
sidered. It is belleved that the new. reentry tube concept proposed in
this report w1ll yleld compact, economical b01lers ‘that can be designed
| for any full power de51gn steam condltlons and yet w1ll glve good stability
and control characteristlcs over: the full range from zero power to full
power“condltlons,and further Wlll notppresent dlfflcult.thermal stress or
salt freezing :problems.', - - | .
A draft of this report substantially as it now stands was prepared
and distributed July 15, 1968 to'key people. ifi the molten salt reactor
project at ORNL' . They klndly rev1ewed the draft and suggested a number
of addltlons to help clarlfy thls new approach By far the most serious
reservatlons they had were concerned with boillng flow stabillty at low
loads. Thls requlred SOme sort of a test, and the report was held pend-
ing the availability of funds for a projected test rig. Because of lack
of funds this rig has hot yet been built. | ' _
It happened that basically similer requirements for a steam generator
arose last year in a program to develop a small isotope'power unit. These
requirements made it importaotlto test a low steam pressure, short tube
version of the reentry boiler. The results of the tests are now in, and
good performance was obtained.” Even though these results cover a limited
range and the steam generator proportions are substantially'different from
- those proposed here for a large central station, the basic concept appears
-to be validated for the low load portion of the operating.regime that was
most open to question. As a consequence, it was decided that the-report
should be issued.
Q.
<) g}/
REVIEW OF BOILER DESIGNS PROPOSED FOR
~ MOLTEN SALT REACTOR SYSTEMS
' Thesvarious boilers that have been considered for use with molten
salt reactors might-be.grouped in the categories outlined in Table 1.
The principal features and major advanteges and disadvantages of each
‘are summarized very briefly to help point up the problems and provide &
framework for the subseqnent analysis of thetheatftransfer, thermal
stress, and controlrproblems.
Conventional Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers
A logical first candidate is a shell-and-tube heat exchanger with
the salt inside the tubes and the water boiling outside of the tubes.
Two_configurations-are'included in Table 1. - The hcrizontal'U—shaped tube
and casing'geometry_employedifor_the early pressurized water reactors
(see Ref. 8, p. 197) has the advantage that not only is differential ther-
mal expansion between the tubes end the casing readily accommodated'With-
out producing serious thermal stresses, but the difference between the hot
fluid'inlet-and outlet temperatures will not induce severe stresses in the
header sheet as would be the case for @ simple shell-and-tube heat ex-
changer with a'U—tube'configuration; _The'majorvdifficulty with this con-
- ventional Ueshaped'casing_design'iS'tnat the temperature'difference be-
tween the water and the walls of the tubes carrying the molten salt is
. far greater than the temperature difference in the nucleate boilihg regime
so that an unstable vapor blanket would form”between the liquid and the
~hot metal surfaCe~(See*Figeil) This leads'to unstable, noisy operation
and severe thermal stresses 1n the tubes as a consequence of violent ir-
;regularitles in the heat transfer coefficient
. Supercritical Pressure Units
It has beenisuggestedsthat these difficulties might-be reduced
through the use of a supercriticel water system inasmuch as this would
reduce the temperature difference between the feedwater and the molten
4
Table 1. Types of Btesu Generstor that Have fleen Proposed for Use with Molten Belt Reactors
Type of Beat , L "' Shell-Side Tube-Side
Iten Exchanger . Gecnetry Flud Fluid Major Problems
1 Conventionsl Shell.
and-tuba, U-tube
Water Salt Excessive temperature difference be-
tveen salt and steam gives unstable
boiling and/or possible freezing of salt.
Tempersture difference between salt in-
“let and outlet streams causes large
thermal ltrenel in hender sheet lnd
: casing.
Salt Excessive tem;perlture difference be-
_ tween salt and steam gives unstable
boiling apd/or possible freezing of
salt,
Water
2 Blull-md-tube vith U-tubes in
& [~shaped cssing for luhcritical
pressure steam
3 Shell-and-tube with
U-tubes in a U-
shaped casing for
supercritical pressure
H,0 Sinilar to above but problems less
severe at full load, but still serious
at part load and in startup; large
ateam preheater required to add 20% of
heat as preheat,
A Dpouble-walled . 8imilar to Item £ but with tubes fubri- . T Severe thermal stresses in porous
tubes vith a cated as in the detail shown below: Outer tube metal region would cause cracking
heat dan
. and indeterminately urse thermal
barrier.
5 Flash Boiler large number of tube-to-header joints
required. Not well suited to steanm
pressures above sabout 600 psi. Tends
to give large heat flux and local ealt
‘freeging near spray nozzle end.
6 loeffler Boller large stean drum required coupled with
heat exchanger and steam pump mekes
the equipment expensive. Operation
is inherently extremely noisy and
excites vibration.
‘? Triple Tube Boiler No suitable vapor separator is avail-
o able, and experience indicates that it
is unlikely one can be developed.
Outer tube diameter is inherently
large and thus requires & thick wall;
this léads to low heat flux and large
- walght and investment in tube material.
-
Recirculating
Water
Insulation T f Final
¥ B Buperheat
Tube Sheet Bection
Peedwater
8 Reentry Tube Boiler i ' - _ : Salt | Steam Concept hes not been tested at .. -
- . = ) pressures above 200 peia.
. O
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$5
_ - ORNL DWG. T1-5T2h
~<—— Interface evaporation ———>t<——— Bubbles >te<——— Film
< : 1' — >t J] —>of—— III'—->--<—1'V——>-<- V >4=<— V] —
K 8 ~|E . §sc| £ |2
1 L £EE fi£§ = B8EE| 2 S: -
w | Pure convection ~ heat "?fig’ 885/ H2 \ =8 &€ |==
| transferred by superheated wd=|825/ S|E EEgl = |E8
5| liquid rising to the. £3¢(=° BE® \VWSF 8 |gs2
£ liquid-vapor interface 2= 5 e =
2| where evaporation gEg> - -
| takes place | SES o
oo S = 8.2 o
5 B —~——
poling W — o
0110 10 100 — 100
T,-T,, °F —>
: Fig. 1. Diagram Showing the Principal Pool-Boiling Regimes and Their -
Relative Position on a Curve for the Heat-Transfer Coefficient Plotted as a
- Function of the Film Temperature Drop (Farber and Scorah, Heat Transfer to
Water Boiling Under Pressure, Trans. ASME, p. 369, Vol. 70, 1948)" |
salt, reduce the fraction of heat added at low water temperatures, and
reduce the sharp changes in physical properties associated‘fiith_the phase
change from liguid to vapor.2°® In units of this type it is usually con-
sidered best to have the molten salt outside the tubes and the super-
critical watér and steam flowing inside the tubes. However, while there
is no‘sharp phase change, the very rapid changes in density and othér
physicalAproperties near the critical temperature under supercritical
pressfire conditi@ns lead to marked changes ifi the heat.transfer perform-
-~ ance and abrupt reductions in the heat transfer coefficient something like
those associated with the burnout heat flux encountered at subcritical
pressures.? In addition to these flow and heat transfer phenomena and
the boiling flow instabilities that would be associated with them, there
would be large, irregularly'fluCtuating thermal stresseé in the tube wall
~in the region near the feedwater inlet of thé.boiler unit, and these would
be.likely to cause tube cracking and failure. These problems are dis-
cussed later in some detail. |
- Although the use of a supercritical pressure system reduces the
severity of the boiling flow stability pfoblem.for operation near the de-
sign point, a great deal of difficulty has been encountered in ali of the
coal-fired once-through and supercritical pressure boilers in going from
zero power to part load conditions of at least 10%, and often to as high
as 30% power. These difficulties stem in part from the'large_density |
change as the water-steam mixture. flows through the boilers and in part
-from the reduced pressure drop at the lower flows which reduces the damp-
ing of the oscillations by'turbulencé losses.®
‘Double-Walled Tubes with a Heat Dam
‘M. E. Lackey suggested in 1958 that one means for.reducing the tem-
perature difference between the tube wall ahd the water to avoid film
boiling conditions wouid be to incorporate alheat dam in the form of a
sintered powder matrix between an inner tube carrying the molten salt and
the outer tube in contact with the boiling water.* This approach would
be quite effective at full'power where the average heat flux would be
<)
o)
x)
high, but wonld:presentfproblems_under startnpand low power conditions
-becausera'high heet flux is inherently associated with & large tempera-
ture drop through such a heat dam..iA,further disadvantage is that dif-
ferential thermal_expansion between the inner and outer tube walls would
~induce severe-thermal stresses in the sintered buffer material, and these
would lead to cracking of the sintered matrixland'unpredictable increases
in the thermal res1stance.87 , _
‘The cracking problem 1n the s1ntered materlal could be avolded hy
using 1nstead an air space asra heat dem. The OD of the inner tube could
~ be knurled, for example,-and the outer tube swaged down onto it. This
would have the dlsadvantage that dlfferentlal thermal expans1on between
the inner and outer tubeS‘would probably loosen the swaged joint and give
an 1ndeterm1nately large -probably excessively large — thermal barrier
at full load. If this did not happen, thermal stresses would probably.
| cause cracklng of the tubes.
‘Flash Boiler
In an effort tOVavcid"the difficulties outlined above, a flash boiler
was prOPOSed'in 1955, 1In a ‘unit of this type the molten salt would flow
outside of the tubes and feedwater would be 1n3ected in the form of a long
thin plume of,flne spray dlreoted‘along the axis of the boiler tube.
'.Experience in the development of noZZleS for diesel'engines indicates that
@ high penetration spray could be obteined with sharp-edged, single-
“orifice nozzles_having;a'hole.diameter of about 0.020 in.,° and that
no2z1es of this type would'break'the liquid:up into_droplets having ‘a
. diameter of the order of 0. 005'in 11 These droplets would form a long
- 8lender spray plume that’ would extend for perhaps 2 £t down the bore of
a 1/2 in. tube. Droplets would impinge on the tube wall at.a very low
'fangle of 1nc1dence, and’ would tend to skltter along the wall riding on
__”a'thin film of Vapor. Analyses indicated that the local thermal stresses
associated with the cold. traoks left by droplets of this sort would be
- well within the elastlc llmlt and should not glve dlfflcultles with
thermal stresses.
*
A brief series of tests to investigate this concept was run by an
MIT practice school group.}2 These tests showed that there was a strong
tendehcy for a large fraction of the droplets to impinge on the tube wall
in the region close to the 1n3ectlon nozzle, and that this led to such a
' pronounced cooling effect that a frozen film of molten salt tended to form
on the outside of the tube in that reglon.la“‘The ‘tests had been initiated
on the premise that they offered an attractive way to provide for emer -
wgency cooling of the ART fuel dump tanks, hence the test work Was termi-
nated with the demise of the ANP proéram.” No further work on the concept
was carried out because it inherently requires a very large number of tubes
of rather short length so that the tube-to-header joint costs tend to be-
come excess1ve.' Further, the concept does not appear to lend 1tself well
‘to hlgh pressure and supercrltlcal pressure steam systems.
Loeffler Boiler
The Loeffler boiler concept used in @ few coal-fired steam plants =
has been considered.® Systems of this sort have been built and operated
for coal- fired furnaces. Operatlon apparently has been satlsfactory ex-
| cept for the extremely high nozse level assoc1ated w1th the b01ler and
dlfflcultles with the steam pumps required. The Loeffler concept entalls
admission of saturated steam to & heat transfer matrlx heated by molten
salt. The superheated steam leav1ng thls matrlx would be d1v1ded 1nto
two portions, one of whlch would flow to the turbine and the other would
be returned to a boiler drum where it would bubble through the water in
~the drum. ThlS approach has the dlsadvantages that 1t requlres large
and expensive boiler drums, 1mplos1on of the vapor bubbles in the boiler
drum makes operation extremely n01sy and 1nduces v1olent v1brat10n ex-
citing forces, the relatlvely poor steam-s1de heat transfer coefflclent
.and low enthalpy rise lead to a large number of tube-to-header JOlntS,
and steam pumps posing tough design and rellablllty problems are required
to recirculate steam through the boiler. On the other hand, the system
has the advantage that it lends itself readlly to startup and part load
operations, it wvirtually eliminates the possibility of salt freezing &s
w
)
a consequence of excessivescooling in the steam generator, and it greatly
eases the thermal stress problems by substituting a salt-to-steam heat ex-
changer for the salt-to-water boiler.
Triple Tube Boiler
_ When the writer solicited criticisms and-suggestions on‘the proposed
new boiler concept, M. E. Lackey pointed out that B. Kinyon and G. D,
_Whitman had proposed & somewhat similar boiler in 1960, (Ref. 6), and
S. E. Beall pointed out that a variation of this approach had been tested
as a means for cooling fuel dump tanks."_l3 The arrangement proposed by
B Kinyon employed three concentric tubes with boiling water flowing upward
;_through the inner annulus to a vapor separator and superheated steam flow-
ing down through the outer annulus The central passage would serve to
return the water from the vapor separator to a boiler water recirculating
| pump. This arrangement has the advantage that the superheated vapor in
the annulus between the outer tube heated by the molten salt and the tube
. containing the boilingpwater would act as a buffer both'to eliminate ser-
ious thermal stresses and to avoid excessive'metal temperatures adjacent
to the boiling water. The arrangement has the disadvantage that it re-
quires a fairly large tube diameter and hence & fairly large tube wall
thickness for supercritical water systems. Thus, the amount of heat trans-
fer surface area required tends to be large because the principal barrier
to ‘heat transfer lies in heat conduction through thick tube walls. Fur-
_'ther, the arrangement requires the development of a vapor separator that
- would fit within a small diameter, preferably that of the tube. Experience
in vapor separator development indicates that the velocities required for
good vapor-liquid separation are much lower than. those one would like to
- use in the tube for heat transfer purposes, and hence a rather bulky pro-
tuberance would have to be:employed at the end of each tube; this appears
%o lead to a set of extremely avkward mechanical design problems.
10
Reentry Tube Boiler
The boiler proposed in this report is somewhat similar to the one
described above.but differs in that it makes use of only two vertical,
concentric tubes in the form shown in Fig. 2. The water enters at the
‘bottom through a central tube having a dlameter of about 1/4 in. Pre-
'heatlng and b01llng occur as the water rises 1n thls tube untll evapora-
tion is complete, after which there is some superheatlng. The steam
emerges from the top end of the small dlameter tube, reverses direction,
and flows back downward through an annulus between the 1nner small tube
and an outer tube having an ID of ‘around 1/2 in. The molten salt enters
~at the bottom, flows upward around the outer tube, and out the top With
this arrangement there is only one header sheet separatlng the molten salt
from the atmosphere, and this header sheet is not subaect to a large pres-
sure differential. Thermal sleeves would be used at the header sheet to
minimize thermal stresses (see Flg. 3). There'would“bevno"high pressure
header sheets in this system, the tubes for the hlgh pressure feedwater
and the exit steam would be manifolded as in hlgh pressure coal fired
boilers rather than run into header sheets. The_steam annulus between
the inner and outer tubes would'act'as.a'buffer to isolate the relatively
low- -temperature boiling water region from the high-temperature molten salt.
This isolation would be so effectlve ‘that 1t would be qulte poss1ble to
| heat the unit to the molten salt operatlng temperature w1th no water in
the system and then slowly add water to 1n1t1ate boiling. CAs will be
shown later, it should be possible to design the unit so that it would
operate stably'over a wide range of condltlons from zero load to overload
with no difficulties from thermal stresses or freez1ng of the salt.
It might at first appear that the extra heat transfer films through
Wthh heat must be transmltted from the molten salt to the boiling water
might lead to a large increase in surface area requirements and hence in
the size, weight, and cost of the unit. However, it appears quite pos-
sible to design so that these disadvantages are more than offset by such
features as the absence of a high-pressure header sheet and the ability
to operate with high-temperature differences between the molten salt and
the boiling water so that the overall size, weight, and cost of the unit
2
11
- . ORNL DWG. T1-5T25
)
Steam
salt
Water
Fig. 2. Diagram,Showing Section-Thfohgh_?Ube: ]
0
12
5
\O 6 x
o O m m o
0 B .
mw . n“mw, . _ , g o pumw
A mwg, g mw mm 9 & m
2 S 2 B 2
o
{ A T T T T T T T N T T T T L T T T U T T T TT
y _ N
~ 3
WHENHIRRAR RN RNV NS .
ettt A AN\
,//Jafaafffdflflfffaidaflffaflflfflffl/l#/%f}?ffldlfllwfltfl/rr¢d1¢~
<
MOLTEN SALT
AIR
-
,-“fi\:
Section Through the Header Sheet Region Showing Two
Typical Tubes with Their Thermal Sleeves and the Associated Welds.
Fig. 3.
»
|
)
15
are at least competitive with the corresponding values for eny other de-
"sign that has been proposed.
DESIGN FOR GOOD STABILITY AND CONTROL CHARACTERISTICS
The usual proCedure in'deVeloping a design for a steamrgenerator has‘
been to choose a geometry, establish the proportions for full povwer condi-
tions, and then — sometlmes -examlne the full range of control problems.
The inverse order seems at least equally logical and is followed here. The
writer. has_felt from the beglnnlng that some of the most difficult condi-
‘tions to be met are those associated with initial stertup and part load op-
eration. rThus, the first step'in.the evaluation work was to establish a
- typical set of molten saltiand steam‘temperaturesg and from these, using
bas1c heat balance cons1deratlons, deduce the ‘effects of dlfferent modes
of control for the various load conditions of 1nterest This approach gives
a'valuable insight into the full range of the over—all design problems.
‘Molten Salt Temperatures at Part Load
Several different approaches_can'be taken to the control of a molten
salt reactor steam poWer'plant. Perhaps the simplest'and most reliable ap-
proach is to make use of constant speed ac motors to drive pumps in both
the fuel c1rcu1t and the intermedlate salt CerUlt If this is done, the
temperature rise in each qalt clrcult w1ll be. dlrectly proportlonal to the
-"load so that the c1rcu1ts w1ll be 1sothermal at zero powver. The basic heat
transfer relatlons are such that the temperature dlfference between the two
- salt 01rcu1ts w1ll also be dlrectly proportlonal to the load and w1ll drop
frto zero at zero load. If there is no control rod movement in the reactor,
the zero load reactor temperature Wlll be the mean of the 1nlet and outlet
fuel temperatures at full load. - These effects are shown in Flg. La for op-
(*eratlon with constant: speed fuel and inert salt pumps ~ Note that both the .
mlnlmum and the mean temperatures of the 1nert salt rise as the load is
reduced — an undes1rable characterlstlc from the standp01nt of the design
of most steam generators., - Thls 51tuatlon can be changed by holding the
14
ORNL DWG. T1-5T27
1300
1200
1100
1000
1300
Temperature (°F)
1200
1000
0 20 ko 60 8o . 100
aefQ (%) |
Fig. 4. Temperature Distribution in the Fuel-to-Inert Salt Heat
Exchanger for & Series of Loads for Two Control Modes, i.e., &) constant
epeed pumps and a constant mean fuel temperature, &nd b) constant speed
purps &nd & constant reactor fuel inlet temperature.
‘-‘m