CFD analysis of the MYRRHA primary cooling system

► MYRRHA is a nuclear reactor which will use lead-bismuth liquid metal coolant and generate a complicated flow pattern in the reactor pool. ► A CFD model, which uses a turbulence model that is compatible with liquid metal coolants, is created to investigate the characteristics of the thermalhydraulic behavior in the reactor vessel during forced and natural convection. ► The study reveals interesting characteristics of the flow field in the current design and some design improvements can be put forward.