Thermal and Stability Considerations for a Supercritical Water-Cooled Fast Reactor During Pressurization Phase of Plant Sliding Pressure Startup

This paper describes the studies on the procedure of the pressurization phase of plant sliding pressure startup for the supercritical water-cooled fast reactor (SWFR). Thermal analysis and thermal-hydraulic stability analysis models for SWFR are developed and validated using the available references’ experimental data. The models are then used to analyze the pressurization phase to obtain the available plant parameters from the points of view of the thermal-hydraulic and stability. The three hot channels, two seed assemblies with upward/downward flow and a blanket assembly during pressurization are analyzed at both beginning of equilibrium cycle (BOEC) and end of equilibrium cycle (EOEC). Results show that the proposed pressurization procedure of the plant sliding pressure startup for SWFR is feasible and both the thermal and stability criteria can be satisfied during the pressurization phase.