Regular Article

Development of a cold plug valve with fluoride salt

¹ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LPSC-IN2P3, 38026 Grenoble Cedex, France
² CNRS, LPSC-IN2P3, 38026 Grenoble Cedex, France
³ Grenoble INP (Institute of Engineering University Grenoble Alpes), LPSC-IN2P3, 38026 Grenoble Cedex, France

^* e-mail: ghetta@lpsc.in2p3.fr

Received: 15 February 2019
Received in final form: 21 June 2019
Accepted: 27 June 2019
Published online: 26 August 2019

Abstract

Experimental studies have been developed on a new freeze plug concept for safety valves in facilities using molten salt. They are designed to allow the closure of an upstream circuit by solidifying the molten salt in a section of the device and to passively melt in case of a loss of electric power, thus releasing the upper fluid. The working principle of these cold plug designs relies on the control of the heat transfer balance inside the device, which determines whether the salt inside the cold plug solidifies or melts. The device is mainly composed of steel masses that are dimensioned to provide sufficient thermal heat storage to melt the salt and thus open the cold plug after the electric power is stopped. The final goal of the work is to provide useful recommendations and guidelines for the design of a cold plug for the emergency draining system of a molten salt reactor. Some numerical thermal simulations were performed with ANSYS mechanical (Finite Element Method) to be compared with results of the experiments and to make extrapolations for a new component to be used in a reactor.