Speaker
Description
The Thermal Hydraulic Experimental Test Article (THETA) is a 150-gallon reactor grade sodium facility built to study the phenomena that occur in a fast reactor during normal operations as well as accident scenarios. THETA will provide critical data to sodium fast reactor designers with higher fidelity than ever before for a scaled liquid sodium facility; THETA is instrumented with advanced sensors such as a submersible permanent flowmeter that uses cutting edge SmCo magnets with an elevated curie point to acquire coolant flow rates as well as distributed sensors that can acquire temperature readings at 10,000+ locations with the use of optical frequency domain reflectometry. Key variables such as intermediate heat exchanger outlet elevation in the cold pool, pump speed/spindown rate, core power input, etc. can be varied in real time to study their effect on the thermohydraulic behavior of the reactor. This paper will discuss the design, commissioning and current test results from the THETA facility.
| Speaker's email address | mweathered@anl.gov |
|---|---|
| Country/Int. organization | United States of America |
| Affiliation/Organization | Argonne National Laboratory |
| Speaker's title | Mr |
