Performance evaluation of eddy current flowmeter in Monju |
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Authors: | Kosuke Aizawa Yoshitaka Chikazawa Yuko Morohashi |
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Affiliation: | 1. Reactor System Design Department, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Ibaraki, Japanaizawa.kosuke@jaea.go.jp;3. Reactor System Design Department, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Ibaraki, Japan |
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Abstract: | Measurement of the temperature and flow rate at each fuel subassembly outlet is an effective way for a liquid metal fast breeder reactor to detect a loss of coolant accident or reactivity-initiated accident in the early stage and to understand the reactor’s thermal hydrodynamic performance. Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed the eddy current flowmeter in practical use and installed 34 of them in the upper core structure of fast breeder reactor, Monju. This report presents data obtained by using the flowmeters in Monju. We observed high linearity between each of the flowmeter’s signal intensity and the primary sodium’s flow rate under 10–100% flow rate condition. High linearity was also observed in a region of low velocity (approx. 0.25 m/s). The fluctuation of flow rate observed by the flowmeters was below 0.2 m/s which is 5% of the time-averaged velocity under a rated condition. These experimental results show that the eddy current flowmeter is an effective tool to detect the changes in relative flow rate. |
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Keywords: | Sodium-cooled fast reactor measurement flow rate eddy current flowmeter Monju |
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