alfred demonstrator towards an improved sustainability of

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Workshop on Energy for Sustainable Science, Bucharest, 2017, November 23-24

ALFRED Demonstrator towards an Improved Sustainability of Nuclear Energy

I.Turcu1, M.Constantin1, A.Alemberti2, M.Frignani2, G.Grasso3, P.Agostini3, F.DiGabriele4, and V.Romanello4

1Institute for Nuclear Research, Pitesti, Romania2Ansaldo Nucleare Spa, Genoa, Italy3ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Bologna, Italy4CVR, Centrum Výzkumu Řež s. r. o., Husinec-Řež, Czech Republic

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What is ALFRED?

ALFRED (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor

European Demonstrator) = to demonstrate economic and technical viability of LFR

technology.

ALFRED is a 125 MWe reactor addressing the

safety, economics and sustainability of nuclear energy.

ALFRED is also Research Infrastructure, as

part of a pan-European DRI

ALFRED is an investment of 1.5 bn Euro

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FALCON Consortium

• 2013-2016, Unincorporated consortium,

In-kind contributions (Ansaldo, ICN,

ENEA, CVR)

• >2017, Legal entity

Signature Ceremony, Dec. 18 2013

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Gen IV Goals

(1) to excel in safety and reliability,

(2) to have a very low likelihood and degree of reactor core damage,

(3) to eliminate the need for offsite emergency response.

SUSTAINABILITY:

- Increase the efficiency of the use of

natural resources,

- Reduce the long-term waste

ECONOMICS:

- Cost advantage

- Limited financial risk

SAFETY AND RELIABILITY:

NON PROLIFERATION &

PHYSICAL PROTECTION:

- be very unattractive route for diversion

or theft of weapons-usable materials, and

provide increased physical protection

against acts of terrorism Among the promising reactor technologies the Lead

Fast Reactor (LFR) has been identified as a

technology with great potential to meet the goals of

Generation IV. SIX REACTOR CONCEPTS

SFR, LFR, GFR, SCWR, VHTR, MSR

SNETP trough the European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative (ESNII) places a high priority

on the development of Gen IV Fast Neutron Reactors : SFR, LFR, GFR

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• Nuclear Safety: TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima

• Disposal of Nuclear Waste: long term radioactive toxicity

• Limitation of Fuel Resources: decades of available uranium

• Economic Competitiveness: renewable energy development

Key Issues for A Sustainable Nuclear Energy Development

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Sustainable?• Safe？• Economical?• Environmental

friendly?

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- Climate changes, a reality

- CO2 emissions, a very probable initiator

- World population, services, energy efficiency, carbon emissions

CO2=P*S*E*C- Bill Gates: we need innovation to zero CO2 emissions!

- RES and Nuclear can really reduce C near 0.0!

Innovation to Zero Em.

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The “Unsolved Problem” of RW

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- Different set of standards used for energy alternatives- Enthusiasm of the start and wisdom of the maturity- Greens and fair-play: nuclear power accepted as a green energy?

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LFR and ALFRED - Targets

- RWM: 1/10, radiotoxicity 1/10, MA burning

- enhanced safety,

- extending of the availability of the resources (more

than 1000 years),

- strengthened nonproliferation

- compactness, standardization, improved

economics

- toward SMR development

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ALFRED – The Reference Site

• 2014, Memorandum “ALFRED construction in Romania”,

• Reference site: Mioveni nuclear platform

• The choice opens to Romania the possibility to become the focal point in the LFR technology in Europe.

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS

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• Sud-Muntenia Smart Specialization Strategy, August 2015

• ALFRED considered as a factor for economic growth, improved innovation, job creation, strengthening of RDI poles and creating the career opportunities for young talents.

• Letter of Support from ANCSI, May 2016, to the Ministry of European Funds in support to the ALFRED initiative highlighting:

• The technical and scientific relevance of the Project, The large interest of the scientific community, The support to include ALFRED as a Major Project in the OP Competitiveness.

• National R&D Strategy, ALFRED was included as Priority Action (AP20f) in the final document of Romanian National Energy Strategy:

• «Support the education and promote scientific research» through «the technological development and implementation of a fast reactor demonstration plant cooled by lead, in a European partnership»

• In February 2017, by Gov.D.81, ALFRED was added as a major European and international project in Romania:

• «Romania is the leader of initiatives that capitalize on its scientific performances, its natural facilities or technological capabilities at ELI-NP, DANUBIUS-RI, ALFRED […]

ALFRED in strategic documents

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Communication, Participation and Public Acceptance

ALFRED Local Group (Interface Implementer – Public)

IWG, Inter-Ministry Working Group(approach for funding, MoEnergy, MoEuFunds,

MoResearch)

ALFRED Working Group(technical experts, regulators, policy makers,

politicians)

ICN, ALFRED Project Team

- Early involvement of public and local authority

- Local, regional and national levels

- Participation of stakeholders in DMP

- How to treat complexity of a new technology in a specific context

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RI Project 1

(2017-2021)

RI Project 2

(2021-2023)

Hub

(2022-2023)

• ATHENA

• ChemLab

• HELENA-2

• ELF

• Meltin'Pot

• HandsON

• Hub

• Lead School

Research Infrastructure for Demonstration, Q., V&V

- 100 mil. Euro, Commitment of Ro Gov

•Strategic Doc

•NegociationEU

Major Project

•Engineering

•Pre-Licensing

Design•Siting

•Construction Licens. Constr.

ALFRED2025

CoE

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ALFRED as part of A Distributed Research Infrastructure

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Construction

Commissioning

OperationEarlyPreparation

AdvancedPreparation

• Material science for qualified solutions

• HLMs physical-chemical properties

• HLMs as coolants in practical applications

• Solutions and provisions to exploit HLMs

• Characterization of concepts• Qualification of prototypical SSCs• Integral tests for NESs• Viability of LFR concept• Safe and sustainable operation of

LFRs

CIRCELIFUS 5HELENA 1LOCORNACIE-UPGIORDIRACHELESOLIDX

Node 1 (IT)

Node 2 (CZ)

ALFRED

HELENA-2ATHENA

ChemLabMeltin’ PotHands-ON

ELF

Node 4(RO)

Node 3(RO)

LR-0LVR-15

COLONRI-1COLONRI-2

MATLOONon-Destructive LabSevere Accident Lab

Cold Mat. TestHot Mat. Test

9 Scientific Objectives

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Design Status of ALFRED at the end of LEADER Project

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• Safety by design, elimination of the path to accidental situations

• Simplifications

• Passive systems and passive features

• Monitoring and intervention

• Grace time?

• SBO, STGR, LOCA

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Enhanced Safety

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Normal decay heat removal following the reactor shutdown: the secondary system used in active mode of operation

Two independent, passive, high reliable and redundant safety-related Decay Heat Removal systems (DHR N1 and DHR N2):• DHR N1: 4 Isolation Condenser (ICs) systems connected

to four out of eight SGs

• DHR N2: 4 Isolation Condenser systems connected to other four SGs

Each IC loop consists of:

– One heat exchanger (Isolation Condenser), constituted by a vertical tube bundle with an upper and lower header

– One water pool, where the isolation condenser is immersed

– One condensate isolation valve (battery actuated)

Features:

Independence: 2 different systems with nothing in common

Redundancy: 3 out of 4 loops sufficient to fulfil the DHR safety function even if a single failure occur

Passive cooling -DHR Systems

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Bayonet vertical tubewith external safetytube and internalinsulating layer

The gap between theoutermost and theouter bayonet tube isfilled with pressurizedhelium to permitcontinuousmonitoring of thetube bundle integrity.high conductivitiesparticles are added tothe gap to enhancethe heat exchangecapability

In case of tube leakthis arrangementguarantees thatprimary lead does notinteract with thesecondary water

ALFRED SG – Double Wall Bayonet Tube

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SAs - ALFRED vs current NPPs

Grace timePWR/PHWR ALFRED

LOCA 4-10 hours, 2-3 days Eliminated by design

SBO 4-10 hours, 2-3 days DHR normal operation, 6.0 days to exhaust the water,

Time to the boiling, 15 days

Time to uncovered Fas, 12 days

Total > 30 days

STGR 4-10 hours, 2-3 days Tubes rupture; Water-lead interaction – low

probability if double wall bayonet type

Loss of the failed SG

No effect on core if the other SGs are in normal

operation

Loss of all SGs, >30d until FAs uncovering

SFP PHWR: 15 days Similar with PWR + more attention due to high burn-up

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Cladding materials/coatings for safety features

• Critical issue:

• Corrosion in pure lead, over 550 0C

• Erosion by lead circulation

• Short term strategy: proven material, protected by corrosion resistant coating; e.g. 15-15Ti (proven in Phenix) as base material + Al2O3 based by PLD- Pulsed laser deposition (well proven)- the coating shows high corrosion resistance to Pb attack,

• Long term strategy: Completely new materials without protective coating.

• Possible Material options:

• Advanced austenitic

• Alumina forming austenitic

• Cr-Si oxides forming steels

Unprotected samples

Pb

Al2O3

bulk alloy

Coated samples

Needs: extensive irradiation campaigns aimed to the

complete qualification up to 100 dpa by neutrons

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• Coolant: must remain liquid, 327<T< 1745)

• Structures: must be protected against corrosion, which is favored by high temperatures, constraint T<550 • Ferritic-martensitic steels must be protected

against embrittlement, which is anticipated by low temperatures

• experimental results for the limits of the already industrial developed materials

• Fuel (MOX) T<2800

• Corrosion margins: 400<T<480

• Large margins for the coolant boiling, margins to fuel melting

Improved materials to reduce constraints

(400<T<4800C , v<3.2 m/s) and to improve

the efficiency

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• Corrosion & erosion in HLM

• effect of temperature on corrosion (related to developments for long term perspectives);

• effect of oxygen concentration on corrosion (leading to self-formed protective oxide scales);

• corrosion protections/inhibitors development (i.e. coating/chemical additives).

• Testing and qualifying

• innovative materials such as ODS steels, refractory alloys, SiC composites, “MAX” phase materials;

• coated materials as produced by techniques being developed, e.g. GESA (KIT), PLD (IIT), CVD-Ta (industrial).

• The required testing conditions are:

• 650 ÷ 800 °C lead temperature,

• 1 ÷ 2 m/s lead velocity.

Current R&D on Materials

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• Characterization conditions through standardized experiments with respect to: • Liquid Metal Embrittlement (LME), • fatigue, • creep, • stress corrosion cracking, and • fretting in HLM.

• Irradiation tests:• corrosion in HLM under irradiation (coated and uncoated material); • irradiation embrittlement of selected materials; • irradiation creep; • swelling.

• demonstration of endurance reliability and performances for long term applications

• capability to withstand corrosion/erosion effects due to high relative coolant speeds (10 m/s, possibly extended up to 20 m/s);

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• Coolant chemistry• oxygen measurement (including the assessment of sensors reliability); • oxygen control (injection/sequestration); • HLM filtering; • HLM purification • HLM cleaning from components

• HLM/water interaction• phenomena /processes:

• pressure wave propagation across the primary system, • sloshing (for systems arranged in a pool configuration), • steam transport in primary system (potentially leading to entrainment into the core, for

fission reactors), • HLM and impurities dragging by the steam, • HLM-water interface phenomena;

• rupture/leakage detection systems; • tube rupture mitigation countermeasures

• HLM freezing and interaction with structures• Different thermal hydraulics regimes

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• to advance material science towards the development of fully qualified solutions for use in HLM environments

• Development of new materials and coatings

• with good mechanical properties for: creep, fatigue, HLM embrittlement, welds

• working in corrosive, errosive coolants and in fast spectrum

• Energy systems: load following approach, materials able to support such variations of the external parameters

• Lead technology for thermal solar (including storage option)

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Materials development

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R&D activities for Preparatory

phase R&D actions to be included in the safety demonstration programme:

Corrosion and control of oxygen,

Impurities produced by corrosion (initiate flow blockage),

Structural integrity of systems and components, especially

fluid/structures interaction in case of earthquake

Steam generator tubes rupture,

Fuel - lead coolant interaction

Lead is a toxic chemical material (confinement of radioactive and

toxic material )

Is the freezing of lead a safety issue?

Natural convection in core and in residual heat removal systems

Core melt accident (buoyancy, re-criticality, residual heat removal)

Control of lead release to the environment

Feasibility of in service inspection

Evaluation of releases in case of severe accident

a “prudent” design approach aiming to have important safety margins is

needed in order to compensate important uncertainties

The safety demonstrations will require experimental tests, and qualification

of the materials, components and equipment.

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Skills & Infrastructures• List of competences needed to implement ALFRED (design, licensing,

operation, E&T, management, RWM, etc.)• List of existing competences• List of the infrastructures• Gaps• How to fill the gaps? • Approaches, Methods, Tools. • Suppliers and Costs• Recommended Approach• Action Plan for HR

Gap

s

AvailableRequire

d= +

Competences

Infrastructures

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Facility

Estimated jobs for operation and involved RDI activities

Senior

ResearchersResearchers Post-Docs Technicians

PhD

students

Other

staffTotal

HELENA-2 4 2 0 6 1 2 15

ATHENA 4 2 0 6 2 2 16

Meltin’ Pot 4 2 1 4 2 2 15

Hands ON 2 1 0 4 0 2 9

ChemLab 4 2 1 4 0 2 13

ELF 2 2 1 4 1 2 11

ALFRED 30 55 15 120 20 60 300

Total 50 66 18 148 26 72 379

Estimation of jobs for operation of ALFRED and support infrastructure

- it is expected that most of the permanent positions (around 75%) will be occupied by labor force from the hosting region

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Pillars• Education in Romania - 93 universities (56 state own and 27 private)• Nuclear education in:

• University Politechnica Bucharest• University of Bucharest• University from Pitesti• University of Constanta (mainly linked to the NPP)

• Nuclear engineering - dominated by CANDU technology • over 50 years of experience in nuclear• Nuclear Safety and Technology culture

• Collaboration between ICN and UBP, UPIT and UB (master, diploma, PhD, experimental activities,…) – based on agreements

• Knowledge management system • ICN experience in personnel training • FALCON Resources (experimental infrastructure)• Collaboration with EU partners• International collaboration

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ALFRED and SMR Development

Strategic vision: to develop ALFRED demonstrator for LFR technology

Adding a 2nd objective: base for SMR development

SMR used for load base,

Photovoltaic and hydro storage as complementarities for energy,

To identify the optimal modularity based on economics.

SMR in cogeneration to increase the efficiency from 40% to 70%,

-

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Long term project

Major investment

International environment

Knowledge transfer and competence building as key-factors

Major step – demonstration of the technology – towards the commercial deployment

Key issues: human and financial resources; methodologies and students

Generator of new projects, RD themes, innovation

Economic growth and new jobs creation

E&T – challenging process

Step wise approach

ALFRED project – some conclusions

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alfred demonstrator towards an improved sustainability of

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