THE CASE FOR ENDURANCE TESTING OF SODIUM-HEATED STEAM-GENERATORS

After operating pressurized water reactor (PWR) steam generators in U. S. nuclear plants during the past 33 Yr and plugging thousands of tube s and replacing numerous steam generators at immense costs, utility an d steam generator designers are now confident that they can design, bu ild, and operate PWR steam generators successfully. Deployment of liqu id-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs) will likely follow the same sc enario if long-term testing is not performed and development completed prior to commercial deployment. A case is made for endurance testing of steam generators to be used in future LMFBRs.