Development of a CFD-based model to simulate loss of flow transients in a small lead-cooled reactor

With the deployment of advanced and small modular reactors (SMRs), it is important to develop the tools to assess their safety. This work presents the different components of a CFD based model for simulating transients in a pool-type small lead cooled reactor. The model encompasses the entire primary circuit with a simplification of the fuel channels, pumps and steam generators. Those parts are modelled through heat and momentum sources (or sinks), similar to the porous medium used in other studies. The CFD solver is coupled with a finite volume solver for fuel pin temperature and a point kinetics solver for neutronics. Free surface is modelled in CFD with multiphase volume of fluid method. The set of methods that is used in this work constitute a novelty for modelling lead cooled reactors. The goal is to have a model that is relatively simple to implement in order to study the effect of some parameters on reactor transients like an unprotected loss of flow. The focus of this study is to describe in detail every individual component of the model, namely the fuel channels, fuel pin temperature, neutronics, coupling strategy, pump and steam generators. In addition, CFD simulations are compared against experimental data from the TALL-3D facility. The purpose of this comparison is to verify that the models and parameters of the CFD software (STAR-CCM+) are capable of reproducing a flow of heavy metal. A future publication will provide the simulation results of an integrated model with all the components.