Numerical investigation on a jet pump evolving liquid lead for GEN-IV reactors

• The design of the LFR pumps allows for an easy removal of the pump from the reactor vessel.
• The use of a jet pump in LFRs increases natural circulation when pumps are off with respect to other designs.
• The design of a liquid lead jet pump as primary pump for ALFRED has been developed.
• The CFD validation has been done using experimental data for water.
• A parametric analysis has been performed to obtain an optimal configuration.

Heavy-liquid metals, such as lead and lead–bismuth eutectic, are promising candidates as coolant for advanced GEN-IV fast reactors as well as for Accelerator-Driven Systems. The advancing knowledge of the thermal-hydraulic behavior of these fluids leads to explore new geometries and new concepts aimed at optimizing the key components of a GEN-IV reactor for these fluids. In this paper, a theoretical and computational analysis is presented of a jet pump evolving liquid lead as primary pump for ALFRED (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator). The jet pump is modeled with a 3D CFD code (FLUENT) and at design operating conditions. The analysis shows that a jet pump could be a viable solution for ALFRED (at least from a thermal-hydraulic point of view), albeit some technological issues remain to be fully addressed.