CX-270369: Influence of Dissolved Salts and Impurities in Seawater on Heat Transfer Degradation and Fluid Flow Through Fuel Channels Debris Bed – Kansas State University

Kansas State University proposes to construct an experimental facility that will enable boiling-heat transfer experiments using raw water with a contaminant, such as salt, present at varying concentrations. Radioactive salts are ideally suited as the contaminant analog because they can be produced from neutron irradiation using the MARK-II TRIGA reactor at the university. Radiation detectors at the university can then measure the deposition rates of the radioactive salts by measuring changes in counts over time at different spatial locations. The university facility also features neutron and x-ray imaging systems to measure local void fraction and a Rayleigh backscatter-based fiber optic temperature measurement system. Boiling experiments will be conducted in both an annular core with an immersion heater and an inductively-heated debris bed. The experiments will cover the range of geometries, flow conditions, and contaminant levels needed to highlight the critical physics under investigation.