A feasibility assessment of the use of nanofluids to enhance the in-vessel retention capability in light-water reactors

Nanofluids, colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles, exhibit a substantially higher critical heat flux (CHF) compared to water. As such, they could be used to enhance the in-vessel retention (IVR) capability in the severe accident management strategy implemented by certain light-water reactors. It is envisioned that, at normal operating conditions, the nanofluid would be stored in dedicated storage tanks, which, upon actuation, would discharge into the reactor cavity through injection lines. The design of the injection system was explored with risk-informed analyses and computational fluid dynamics. It was determined that the system has a reasonably low failure probability, and that, once injected, the nanofluid would be delivered effectively to the reactor vessel surface within seconds. It was also shown analytically that the increase in decay power removal through the vessel using a nanofluid is about 40%, which could be exploited to provide a higher IVR safety margin or, for a given margin, to enable IVR at higher core power. Finally, the colloidal stability of a candidate alumina-based nanofluid in an IVR environment was experimentally investigated, and it was found that this nanofluid would be stable against dilution, exposure to gamma radiation, and mixing with boric acid and lithium hydroxide, but not tri-sodium phosphate.