Abstract

The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) member countries identified the six most promising advanced reactor systems and related fuel cycle as well as the research and development necessary to develop these concepts for potential deployment.

Among the most promising reactor technologies for fast reactors being considered by the GIF (Sodium and Lead Fast Reactors), the Lead Fast Reactor has been identified as a technology with great potential to meet the needs for both remote sites and central power stations.

To enable the design of the industrial-size reactor (code name ELFR, European Lead-cooled Fast Reactor), the design of a low cost but fully representative, scaled-down demonstrator of appropriate size (code-name ALFRED, Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demostrator) is performed within the EU-funded LEADER (Lead-cooled European Advanced DEmonstration Reactor) project, started in 2010 and currently under development.

The preliminary results of the CFD analysis, performed with FLUENT 13.0 and 14.0, presented in this paper show the distribution of liquid lead inside the main coolant pump duct and the steam generator of the ALFRED configuration. In particular, the goal of the analysis is providing data to better define the shape, size and relative position of the inter-related components in order to optimize the flow of the liquid lead from the duct of the pump to the tube bundle of the steam generator through the distribution slits, and to identify possible improvements of the geometry.