Experimental and numerical reaction analysis on sodium-water chemical reaction field

Abstract

In a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), liquid sodium is used as a heat transfer fluid because of its excellent heat transport capability. On the other hand, it has strong chemical reactivity with water vapor. One of the design basis accidents of the SFR is the water leakage into the liquid sodium flow by a breach of heat transfer tubes. This process ends up damages on the heat transport equipment in the SFR. Therefore, the study on sodium-water chemical reactions is of paramount importance for security reasons. This study aims to clarify the sodium-water reaction mechanisms using an elementary reaction analysis. A quasi one-dimensional flame model is applied to a sodium-water counter-flow reaction field. The analysis contains 25 elementary reactions, which consist of 17 H2-O2 and 8 Na-H2O reactions. Temperature and species concentrations in the counter-flow reaction field were measured using laser diagnostics such as LIF and CARS. The main reaction in the experimental conditions is Na+H2O→NaOH+H and OH is produced by H2O+H→H2+OH. It is demonstrated that the reaction model in this study well explains the structure of the sodium-water counter-flow diffusion flame.

Keywords

• sodium
• water vapor
• elementary reaction
• sodium-cooled fast reactor
• laser diagnostics