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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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A new ANSI/ANS standard for liquid metal fire protection published
ANSI/ANS-54.8-2025, Liquid Metal Fire Protection in LMR Plants, received approval from the American National Standards Institute on September 2 and is now available for purchase.
The 2025 edition is a reinvigoration of the withdrawn ANS-54.8-1988 of the same title. The Advanced Reactor Codes and Standards Collaborative (ARCSC) identified the need for a current version of the standard via an industry survey.
Typical liquid metal reactor designs use liquid sodium as the coolant for both the primary and intermediate heat-transport systems. In addition, liquid sodium and NaK (a mixture of sodium and potassium that is liquid at room temperature) are often used in auxiliary heat-removal systems. Since these liquid metals can react readily with oxygen, water, and other compounds, special precautions must be taken in the design, construction, testing, and maintenance of the sodium/NaK systems to ensure that the potential for leakage is very small.
C. E. Dickerman, E. S. Sowa, J. H. Monaweck, A. Barsell
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 18 | Number 3 | March 1964 | Pages 319-328
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE64-A20052
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments have been performed in-pile, using the Transient Reactor Test Facility, to study the meltdown behavior under transient heating of metallic Experimental Breeder Reactor-II fuel elements contained in stagnant sodium. Threshold of failure, modes of failure, and post-experiment distribution of fuel were obtained for a range of experimental conditions including uniform axial power and axial-power profile shaped to approximate a typical power profile of a fast-reactor core. Samples were exposed both with sodium initially at saturation conditions, and with sodium pressurized to inhibit boiling. Although the presence of stagnant sodium was found to modify qualitatively the results found previously for dry EBR-II samples, the changes were not great, and results were consistent with those for dry elements.