Technology Transfer Department

Application sectors

Problem to solve

SOLEAD aims to cover research aspects presently missing in the European landscape, but necessary for supporting the design of an LFR. At present, several R&D efforts address the open issues of the LFR technology, including studies on physics-chemistry of the coolant, corrosion of structural materials, pool thermal-hydraulics, and postulated accidental scenarios. The SOLEAD facility can help to fill the existing uncertainties on these issues.

Description

The facility is mainly composed of a main vessel (S200), a storage vessel (S100), and a gas panel, for the conditioning of the lead and the Ar supply to the cover gas of the vessels. The lead included in the main vessel of SOLEAD can reaches the maximum temperature of 800 °C. Thanks to this feature, components and equipment can be tested even at temperatures higher than those normally expected in lead-cooled fast reactors, thus making it possible to simulate even accidental transients. Conditioning, which consists of obtaining the right concentration of oxygen in the lead, is mainly performed in the storage vessel. The quantity of lead that the facility can manage is 37 t. The storage vessel capacity is 3640 L, while the main vessel capacity is 3720 L.

Research group involved