CURRENT STATE AND ISSUES OF THE HEAVY LIQUID METAL COOLANT TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (Pb, Pb-Bi)

Abstract

The technology of heavy liquid metal coolant (HLMC) is an important part of the safety system for the operation of reactor facilities with HLMC at all stages of their life cycle: from the preparation of a coolant and loading into the reactor to the decommissioning of the reactor facility (RF). The technology of heavy liquid metal coolant is a set of measures that allow: - to prepare the coolant for filling in the primary circuit of the RF; - to maintain the conditions in the coolant to ensure the corrosion resistance of structural steels; - to perform the coolant cleaning from solid-phase slags both based on lead oxides and based on oxides of structural steel components; - to clean the protective gas from coolant aerosols and corrosion products; - to perform the diagnostics of the contour state. HLMC technology includes both methods of performing technological operations, as well as special equipment, controls, and analysis methods. To date, a significant amount of research and development work has been carried out for the implementation of HLMC in the “BREST-OD-300” and special-purpose RF. The report paper presents the achievements in the field of HLMC technology in recent years of the work of the staff of IPPE JSC.