Authors & Affiliations
Alexeev V.V., Borisov V.V., Kamaev A.A., Ganichev N.S., Vitsenko A.S.
A.I. Leypunsky Institute for Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia
Alekseev V.V. – Chief Researcher, Dr. Sci. (Tech.). Contacts: 1, pl. Bondarenko, Obninsk, Kaluga region, Russia, 249033. Tel.: +7 (484) 39-9-42-34; e-mail:
Borisov V.V. – Chief Specialist.
Kamaev A.A. – Deputy Director of Division on the Safety and Engineering of Fast Reactors Cand. Sci. (Tech.).
Ganichev N.S. – Head of Laboratory.
Vitsenko A.S. – Research Engineer.
Abstract
When a large amount of water enters sodium, the concentrations of the products of their interaction can exceed the saturation limits in sodium, which leads to the release of a solid precipitate and, ultimately, to clogging of the channels through which sodium is transported. The onset of solid phase separation depends both on the sodium temperature and on the concentration of water in it. An algorithm and a calculation program have been developed for solving the modelling equations in order to determine the equilibrium concentrations of the components of the products of the interaction of water with sodium, as well as the amount of sediment at various amounts of supplied water and sodium temperatures. The concentration range up to several thousand ppm of water in sodium was considered. If we do not take into account the release of hydrogen during the interaction of water with sodium, saturation of sodium hydride in sodium at 400 °C begins with a water concentration of 1600 ppm, and at 300 °C – with a concentration of 220 ppm of water in sodium. For sodium oxide and alkali, saturation at 300 °C is achieved at 360 ppm and 420 ppm water in sodium, respectively. Known experimental data on the solubility of alkali in sodium differ by several times. According to our estimates, this value is 640 ppm at 300 °C. The dependences of the concentrations of the components of the interaction products on the sodium temperature were obtained. When 317 kg of water is added to 120 tons of sodium (2640 ppm of water in sodium), most of the components of the interaction products are in an undissolved state at 300 °C. The precipitation of sodium oxide begins at a sodium temperature below 440 °C, and sodium hydride at a sodium temperature below 412 °C.
Keywords
sodium, water, concentration, sodium oxide, alkali, reaction products, hydrogen, saturated solution, precipitate, temperature
Article Text (PDF, in Russian)
UDC 621.039.534
Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. Series: Nuclear and Reactor Constants, 2023, no. 4, 1:17