GAS ENTRAINMENT IN SURGE TANK OF LIQUID-METAL FAST BREEDER-REACTORS

Methods to avoid gas entrainment in the surge tank, which is provided in the secondary sodium circuit of a typical sodium cooled fast breede r reactor plant were investigated experimentally, with an aim to minim ize the tank size. It was observed from the experiments that the gas e ntrainment phenomena varies depending on the inlet and oulet nozzle po sitions of the surge tank. Surge tank with bottom inlet and side outle t was selected and further experiments were conducted in reduced scale models with water. The minimum liquid level required to avoid gas ent rainment was correlated by Froude number. This level was further reduc ed to about half the value by providing a perforated plate across the inlet jet,