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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
M. Ulrickson, G. Barnes, H.M. Fan, G. Labik, D. Loesser, L. Lontai, D.K. Owens
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 1817-1822
Plasma-Facing Component | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29982
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Carbon fiber composite (CFC) materials have been used as the plasma facing surface on limiters in TFTR since 1989. We changed from all POCO graphite tiles on the inner bumper limiter (BL) to about 1/3 CFC tiles in the high heat flux area because of tile failures with heating powers up to 20 MW. The RF limiters (RFL), which were designed to protect the radio-frequency antennas from plasma heat flux, were designed with CFC material. This paper discusses the design issues related to the CFC materials, our experience with material property variations in large production runs, and our operational experience with CFC limiters. The replacement BL tiles were made from a 3D CFC material. The RFL tiles were made from a 2D CFC. The use of 2D CFC material was molded to near net shape. The tiles were required to withstand up to 105 cycles of 50 MW of heating power for a duration of 2 s. Determination of the minimum material properties was one of the major design issues. The fabrication of the BL tiles required production of about 35 large billets of 3D CFC material. The fabrication of the RFL tiles required production of about 160 tile blanks. We found substantial variation in the material properties of the finished parts. The distribution of the material property data is discussed. In the case of the RFL tiles some parts did not meet the required properties because of the non-standard nature of the fabrication. After nearly two years of operation on the CFC tiles, none of the CFC tiles have failed. The only damage observed on the CFC tiles is a slight darkening of the tile when it is heated to the sublimation point by the disruption heat loads. Recommendations of the best design and fabrication strategies for CFC plasma facing components are made.