Out-of-pile testing of the CALIPSO irradiation device for the Jules Horowitz Reactor

D. Moulin (1) , P. Charvet (1) , F. Challet (1) , G. Chaumont (1)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)

The CALIPSO device is a NaK liquid metal loop for material irradiation in the core of the Jules Horowitz Reactor. A prototype for out-of pile testing was manufactured and a specific experimental facility called SOPRANO was built at the CEA Cadarache centre. Since September 2013, the qualification of the prototype over all its operating range has been carried out. After a short recall on the CALIPSO device and its operating principle, the main results of the experimental campaigns are presented in this paper. The electromagnetic pump showed very good time stability and reproducibility all along the campaigns to control NaK flowrate up to 0.5 kg/s. Concerning thermal behaviour, the modularity of the heat exchanger is very efficient to enlarge the temperature operating range. For instance, the targeted 450°C NaK temperature was obtained with the shorter heat exchanger configuration. Besides, by controlling the electrical power parameters, one could flatter the NaK temperature profile in the test channel down a few degrees over the 765 mm heating length of the electrical rod. These experimental campaigns were necessary to qualify the overall behaviour of CALIPSO and to characterize the main components. Most of the results are consistent with the expected values. The objective of reducing the thermal gradient in the flowing NaK along the sample zone has been achieved. Therefore, it confirms the adequate design of CALIPSO to perform irradiation of material samples with an accurate control of the coolant temperature conditions over a large range of heating power.

Keywords: Reactor; Irradiation; Device; Test; Material; Electromagnetic; Pump; NaK; Sodium; Potassium

Domains: Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]

D. Moulin, P. Charvet, F. Challet, G. Chaumont. Out-of-pile testing of the CALIPSO irradiation device for the Jules Horowitz Reactor. RRFM/IGORR 2016 - European Research Reactor Conference, Mar 2016, Berlin, Germany. ⟨cea-02442331⟩