Eddy current flowmeters at core outlet in french sodium fast reactors

K. Paumel (1) , M. Girard (1) , J. Bonnin (1)

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

Eddy current flowmeter (ECFM) is envisaged to measure sodium velocity at core outlet in sodium fast reactors. Firstly, sodium tests in a pipe were carried out to ensure the feasibility of this detecting principle. The sensor exhibited a good behaviour the flow rate dependence of its response is linear and a particular frequency exists for which the ECFM's normalized response is temperature independent. Moreover, a numerical modelling was developed with COMSOL to assess the efficiency of the measurement in an opened flow, i.e. without a pipe confining the flow. Despite the decrease of sensitivity, the signal keeps linearity. However, the frequency for which the signal is temperature independent has vanished.

Keywords: Eddy Current Flowmeter; Finite Element Modelling; Sodium Fast Reactors; Sodium Tests.

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

K. Paumel, M. Girard, J. Bonnin. Eddy current flowmeters at core outlet in french sodium fast reactors. 10th PAMIR International Conference Fundamental and Applied MHD, Jun 2016, Cagliari, Italy. ⟨hal-02441975⟩