Experiment and Codes to Support Safety Assessments for Sodium Fast Reactors (KASOLA, SOLTEC and KARIFA)

Abstract

The experimental liquid metal loops hosted within the Karlsruhe Sodium laboratory (KASOLA) comprise a set of facilities to study liquid metal flows for various types of energy applications ranging from room temperature conditions used for education and training and fundamental research up to challenges posed by multiphysics problems such as material–fluid interactions at high temperatures. Extreme conditions, such as sodium boiling, relevant to thermo-electric conversion or fast reactor safety are covered in a dedicated small-scale facility (Karlsruhe receiver test facility (KARIFA)). The complete experimental range is complemented by system code support and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The outcome of the experiments is used for code validation and development allowing application not only on component but also on system level. The paper presents main experimental facilities and supporting computational codes used at KASOLA.