Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163

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Nuclear Engineering and Design
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ nucengdes
Conceptual design of a bayonet-tube steam generator for the ALFRED
lead-cooled reactor
Lorenzo Damiani

, Massimo Montecucco, Alessandro Pini Prato

DIME Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Genoa, via Montallegro 1, 16145 Genoa, Italy
h i g h l i g h t s

Conceptual design of a bayonet-tube steam generator for a lead-cooled reactor demonstrator.

Steady-state simulations effected through RELAP 5.

Performance evaluation of the steam generator for different congurations of the bayonet tubes.
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 5 December 2012
Received in revised form18 June 2013
Accepted 19 June 2013
a b s t r a c t
The present paper is centred on the design of a bayonet tube steam generator, fundamental part of an
innovative lead-cooled fast nuclear reactor (LFR). The construction of the LFR is the main objective of
the European project named LEADER, of which Ansaldo Nucleare is an important member. The steam
generator described in this paper is expected to be installed in a 300 MW thermal power demonstrator
plant, named ALFRED.
The investigations carried out in this work through the RELAP 5 code have rst faced the sizing of the
single bayonet tube and then the design of the whole heat exchanger. The congurations of the four
coaxial tubes composing the single bayonet, the length of the bayonets and the materials employed have
beeninvestigated; the nal heat exchanger conguration provides 510 bayonet tubes of 6mactive length
with a thermal insulation between the inner descending tube and the rising annulus, assured by a special
extremely insulating paint.
The whole steam generator has shown its capability to reach the required exchanged power of
37.5 MW
th
, providing as output dry superheated steam at the desired temperature of 450

C.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The Fukushima accident occurred in March 2011 has pushed
even further the need for safe nuclear power: the main conse-
quence is the boosting of the research about generation IV nuclear
reactors (The Generation IV International Forum). This typology of
power plants would provide more sustainable, economic, reliable
and safe energy systems reducing the likelihood of core damage by
the elimination of any need for offsite emergency response.
Among the six reactor typologies, a great importance at Euro-
pean scale is held by the lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR). The
main LFR project currently active is LEADER (Alemberti et al.,
2009), acronymfor Lead-cooled European Advanced DEmonstra-
tion Reactor that constitutes the natural prosecution of a former

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0103532549; fax: +39 0103532566.

E-mail addresses: Lorenzo.Damiani@unige.it (L. Damiani), salabi@unige.it
(M. Montecucco), salabi@unige.it (A. Pini Prato).
project ELSY (European lead-cooled system) (Alemberti et al.,
2011).
The LEADER project deals with the development to a conceptual
level of a LFR industrial size plant, aimed at the resolution of the
key issues emerged in the course of the ELSY project. Among the
goals of the LEADER project, there is the construction of a scaled-
down demonstrator of LFR technology, named ALFRED (advanced
lead-cooled fast reactor European demonstrator).
A set of fundamental objectives characterize the LEADER activ-
ities, which are organized in six technical work packages (WP); in
addition, one work package is dedicated to project coordination
and another one to education and training. The work programme
is subdivided as follows:
WP0: coordination of the project;
WP1: reference design objectives and specication;
WP2: core design;
WP3: conceptual design;
WP4: plant operation, instrumentation, control and protection
systemdesign;
0029-5493/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2013.06.021
L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163 155
Nomenclature
Symbol
D diameter (mm)
k
He
heliumthermal conductivity (Wm
1
K
1
)
p pitch between bayonets (mm)
WP5: safety and transient analysis;
WP6: lead technology;
WP7: education and training.
Ansaldo Nucleare is involved in WP0 and leads the WP3. The
main objectives of WP3 are the design of a reference congura-
tion for the LFR industrial plant and the denition of the ALFRED
demonstrator reactor main features.
Regarding ALFRED, it is worth to remind that the project activi-
ties deal with the following objectives:

the denition of the main suitable characteristics and design

guidelines for the facility;

the design of a scaled demonstrator fully representative of the

industrial size reactor;

the use of components/technologies alreadyavailable inthe short

termto be able to proceed in the near future to a detailed design
followed by the construction phase;

theevaluationof safetyaspects throughapreliminarysafetyanal-

ysis;

the demonstrator cost minimization.

About ALFRED, Ansaldo Nucleare is responsible for the design
of the primary system equipments (i.e. steam generator, primary
pump, reactor vessel, and reactor internals), and the develop-
ment of a passive, independent, redundant and diverse decay heat
removal system; in addition, Ansaldo Nucleare leads all the design
activities performed by the partners in the WP3, in particular the
development of the functional and mechanical design of the reac-
tor control and shutdown systems and the primary fuel transfer
system.
Consistently with the LEADER objectives, the demonstrator
designshall be characterizedby a relatively lowpower (300MW
th
),
with a compact design to reduce the cost. For investment pro-
tection, it should be based as much as possible on simple and
removable components, operating at the lowest temperatures
compatible with the pure lead, chosen as primary coolant.
2. Main features of ALFRED
ALFRED has been conceived as a demonstration reactor with
300MW thermal power and a global efciency higher than 40%,
depending on the secondary cycle conguration. The primary lead
systemhas been designed as a compact pool covered by plenumof
Argon, lead circulation being assured by mechanical pumps neces-
sary to overcome a pressure loss of the loop expected to be about
1.5bar. Lead temperature range is expected between 400

C and
480

C.
The fuel used is MOx with a cladding of T91 steel plus a coat-
ing; the claddesignmaximumallowable temperature is 550

C. The
main safety vessel material is austenitic stainless steel with eight
integrated steamgenerators.
The secondary uid is water, entering the steamgenerator (SG)
at 335

C and leaving it at 450

C, with a live steam design pres-

sure of 180bar. The secondary loopincludes eight steamgenerators
submerged in the reactor pool and arranged around the core, each
equipped with an axial pump for lead circulation.
Fig. 1. ALFRED reactor block front view.
The safety approach adopted requires two independent, redun-
dant and diverse passive decay heat removal (DHR) systems. In
ALFRED each DHR systemis composed by four independent loops
connected to one reactor SG. The unavailability of one DHR system
loop is taken into account with the design requirement to remove
the decay power with only three out of the four loops available, in
the hypothesis of lead primary loop operating in natural circulation
condition.
The rst DHR system is based on the Isolation Condenser
concept, which has already been proposed and tested for SBWR
(Burgazzi, 2002) and investigated for LFR (Leoncini et al., 2009;
Damiani and Pini Prato, 2012).
The ALFRED reactor vessel is a cylindrical-shaped containment
closed at its bottom by a hemispherical cap, as shown in Fig. 1. It
is made of austenitic stainless steel and is located inside a cavity
in the ground for most of its height. The inner vessel assembly is
also cylindrical and from it eight ducts detach, bringing the lead
through the eight pumps to the SGs.
Regarding the secondary loop, the best option seems to be the
Rankine cycle operating in parallel with a desalination plant, able
to combine high efciency and good behaviour during discontinu-
ous operation. Electricity and fresh water generation would not be
related, giving another important advantage. The main parameters
of ALFRED are indicated in Table 1.
3. The bayonet-tube steamgenerator
The bayonet-tube steamgenerator consists of a bundle of bayo-
nets organizedinanequilateral triangular cell immersedinthe lead
vessel pool. The bayonet-tube (De Fur, 1975; Belloni et al., 2011) is a
vertical tube with external safety tube and internal insulating layer
and it is composed by 4 coaxial tubes, namely:

the slave tube;

the inner tube;

156 L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163
Table 1
ALFRED main parameters.
Power 300MW
th
Net efciency > 40%
Primary system Pool, compact
Primary circulation 4 Mechanical pumps
Primary pressure loss <1.5bar
Primary thermal cycle 400480

C
Fuel MOx (rst)
Fuel cladding T91+coating
Fuel clad max temp. 550

C
Main and safety vessel Austenitic SS
Steamgenerators 8-integrated
Secondary cycle 180bar, 335450

C
Internals Removable
DHRs 2 Passive systems
Seismic design 2D isolators

the outer tube;

the outermost tube.

As shown in Fig. 2, the slave tube individuates a duct through
which the feed-water ows and descends. At the bottom of the
Fig. 2. Scheme of a bayonet tube with the argon, the helium and the steam plena
(not in scale).
bayonet, the ow inverts and starts rising through the annulus
between the outer tube and the inner tube. During the ascension,
water reaches saturation and evaporates, since it receives heat by
the hot lead in which the bayonet is immersed.
The gap between the inner and the slave tubes is lled with a
strongly insulating material in order to assure the required perfor-
mance of the system and the absence of droplets in the steam at
the outlet. A wide sensitivity analysis about the insulating material
has been object of this investigation.
The gap between the outermost and the outer bayonet tube is
instead lled with pressurized heliumand high thermal conductiv-
ity particles to enhance the heat exchange capability (Raffray et al.,
1989; Slavin et al., 2000). The introduction of this gap is required
to solve two safety issues:
(1) First, the double external wall (i.e. the outer and the outer-
most tubes) provided in the SG bayonets constitutes a double
barrier between the secondary and the primary uid so that
even in case of an outer or outermost tube break, primary lead
does not interact with the secondary water.
(2) In addition, the adoption of the double external wall permits
to include the SG in the DHR safety system. The continuous
monitoring of the heliumgap allows in fact to check the tubes
integrity and hence the availability of the SG and of the global
heat removal path.
Bayonet tubes aremadeof T91stainless steel, becauseof its good
mechanical performance at the high temperatures typical of these
applications (around 550

C in accident condition).
The outermost tubes are connected to a 0.25-m-thick T91 steel
plate allowing the safety heliumgap to be connected with a helium
plenumof 0.80-mheight. The outer tubes are connected to another
0.25-m-thick T91 steel plate allowing steamto owupto the steam
plenumwhere it is collected before entering the main steamline.
The inner and the slave tubes are both connected to a third
0.25m thick T91 steel plate. Above this plate is the feed-water
plenum, where the uid coming from the main feed-water line is
collected before entering the bayonets.
4. ALFRED SG bayonets sizing
The starting point of the steam generator design has been a
bunch of thermal hydraulic data, which, together with the bayo-
net conguration later explained, have been implemented in the
RELAP 5 3D software (version 2.4.2).
For the lead properties, the employed RELAP version imple-
ments the tables of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE), instead of those
related to pure lead. A certain difference in properties exists
between the two materials (in the order of 20% for conductivity);
however, the convective resistance existing between lead and bay-
onet wall is very lowif compared to the wall conductive resistance
and to the wall-water convective resistance. Therefore, an error on
lead properties does not introduce a signicant imprecision in the
whole thermal exchange process.
First of all is the nominal core power, which is of 300MW
th
,
meaning37.5MW
th
per SG. The primaryuidis leadat atmospheric
pressure entering the core of the reactor at 400

C and leaving it at
480

C with a mass owrate of 3247.54kg/s per heat exchanger. In

the secondary loop, water enters the SG at 335

C and steamexits
at 450

C and 180bar pressure; secondary uid mass ow rate is

24.068kg/s per SG. Table 2 synthesizes the main data needed for
RELAP 5 model calculations.
Different bayonet congurations have been investigated in
order to meet the requirements for exchanged power and steam
quality. The latter has required a thick insulation layer inserted in
L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163 157
Table 2
SG thermal-hydraulic design data.
Working condition for each SG
Primary loop Secondary loop
Fluid Lead Water
Design pressure Atmospheric pressure 180bar
SG inlet temperature 480

C 335

C
SG outlet temperature 400

C 450

C
Mass owrate 3247.54kg/s 24.068kg/s
Exchanged power per SG 37.5MW
th
(300MW
th
distributed over 8 SGs)
the gap between the slave and the inner tubes in order to minimize
the thermal power transferred to water. The three main congura-
tions tested are here reported, and they are named A, B and C
following the chronological order of investigation.

Bayonet conguration Case A

Case A (Fig. 3) consists of four coaxial pipes sized, respectively,
9.52mm(slave pipe), 12.7mm(inner pipe), 19.05mm(interme-
diate pipe) and 25.4mm(external pipe). The thickness has been
set to 0.81mmfor slave and inner tubes, to 1.88mmfor the outer
tube and to 2.11mmfor the outermost tube. For Case A, a pitch-
to-diameter ratio of 1.355 (meaning a pitch equal to 34.417mm)
has been postulated for the elementary equilateral triangular cell
of the SG. This informationis neededfor the setting of the bayonet
tube RELAP 5-3D model.

Bayonet tube Case B

Case B (Fig. 4) is the same as Case A, except for the diameter of
the innermost tube set tothe smaller value of 6mmdiameter. The
same pitch-to-diameter ratio and the same tubes thickness has
been assumed. This has entailed better exchange performances
but still not enough to justify the not commercially available size
of 6mm; therefore, this solution has been abandoned.

Bayonet tube Case C

In Case C (Fig. 5), the external diameter of the four coaxial tubes
has been set to 9.52mm, 19.05mm, 25.4mmand 31.73mm; the
wall thicknesses have been set to respectively 1.07mm, 1.88mm,
Fig. 3. Bayonet tube conguration A.
Fig. 4. Bayonet tube conguration B.
1.88mmand 2.11mmthick. The pitch-to-diameter ratio is in this
case 1.42.
4.1. SG bayonet tube: RELAP 5 input model
Fig. 6 shows a scheme of the RELAP 5-3D model for the perfor-
mance analysis of the single bayonet tube. The bayonet component
has been simulated considering:
- the descending inner pipe, conveniently divided into two pipes
(RELAP 5 components 015 and 017 indicated in Fig. 6) in order to
Fig. 5. Bayonet tube conguration C.
158 L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163
Fig. 6. Single bayonet tube RELAP5-3D scheme.
account for the thermal insulationprovided by the slave tube; the
inuence of inner pipe thermal insulation on the bayonet perfor-
mance has been in fact investigated, selecting different lengths of
the slave pipe;
- the small hemispherical cap at the bottomof the bayonet where
owinverts (component 019);
- the riser annulus where evaporation takes place (component
021).
The water mass owrate has beenimposedby the time depend-
ent junction 012, while the time dependent volumes (011 and
025, respectively) provide the inlet temperature and the outlet
pressure.
The primary lead circuit is simplied and described by a
Relap5-3D pipe component (005) which simulates the elemen-
tary triangular cell by the setting of a proper hydraulic and thermal
diameter. Again, the lead mass ow rate has been imposed by a
time dependent junction (002), while the inlet temperature and
the outlet pressure have been set by the time dependent volumes
001 and 009, respectively.
Three heat structures (HS) are present inthe model. Twoof them
(HS 001 and HS 002) thermally connect the inner descending pipe
L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163 159
with the ascending annulus through three layers, which are T91
stainless steel, eventual insulating material and T91.
The thirdone (HS 003) thermally connects the primary leadloop
withthesecondarysteamoneandis composedbyvelayers, which
are, fromthe innermost to the outermost:

a fouling thickness water-side (50m thick and with a conduc-

tivity of 2W/m K);

T91 stainless steel;

the heliumgap containing high conductivity particles;

T91 stainless steel;

the tantalum layer that protects the bayonet surface from the
owing lead (50mthick with a conductivity of 57.5W/m K).
Since RELAP5 uses mainly heat transfer correlations for water,
an accurate control of the heat transfer coefcient on the lead side
of the bayonet has been necessary. Ushakovs Kirillovs, Mikityuks,
Mareskas and Dwyers correlations (OCED, 2007) all estimate a
heat transfer coefcient of about 10,000W/m
2
K, ensuring that the
value of 9400W/m
2
K calculated by the code is adequate and even
so more slightly conservative.
4.2. Four metres tube length case
At the beginning of the investigations performed, very conser-
vative values of the safety helium gap thermal resistance were
provided, with conductivity k
He
ranging between 35 times and 55
times that of the helium: i.e., referring to the temperature range
of interest, between 6.35 and 10.54W/m K in the adverse case and
between9.98and16.56W/m Kinthe favourable case. Later, further
and more detailed information described the 55 times helium
conductivity value as fully reliable and even slightly conservative,
allowing hence a reduced number of simulations for the 5 and 6m
case.
The initial 4m length bayonet has been investigated referring
to the congurations A and B afore indicated. The results here
presented include a sensitivity analysis envisaging a tube with:

no insulation (slave tube absent);

3m long water insulation (thermal conductivity varying in the

range 0.4110.494W/m K, depending on temperature);

3m long insulating paint insulation (thermal conductivity of

about 0.05W/m K);

3m long vacuum insulation (thermal conductivity of about

0.0001W/m K).
The four cases above listed have been studied for both low (35
times k
He
) gap conductivity and high (55 times k
He
) gap conductiv-
ity but only the latter is reported, being the former not relevant.
Concerning the mass owrates per bayonet for both water and
lead, they have been set to 0.029kg/s and 3.823kg/s respectively,
values corresponding to an initial estimated number of 840 bayo-
nets of per SG. The results appear in Table 3.
The analysis of the results shows that:
(1) the better is the insulation, the higher is the exchanged power
and the fewer the number of necessary tubes;
(2) the absence of droplets inthe outlet steamcanbe achieved only
using the vacuuminsulation;
(3) all the cases tested allow to reach a temperature widely too
lowin comparison with the required 450

C and would require

a higher number of tubes than expected. The low outlet tem-
perature is mainly due to the small tube length and hence
insufcient surface for heat exchange in the present bayonet
conguration.
On the basis of the considerations above reported, the 4mlong
conguration has been judged not suitable.
4.3. Five metres tube length case
The insufcient thermal exchange performed by the 4m long
tube has required anincrease of the heat exchange surface, realized
by a longer bayonet.
The A and C bayonet congurations have then been inves-
tigated in this case. The thermal inner tube insulation means have
been kept the same as in the 4mcase.
The results in Table 4 presented refer to a 5m tube sensitivity
analysis envisaging:

no insulation (slave tube absent);

3m long water insulation (thermal conductivity varying in the

range 0.4110.494W/m K, depending on temperature);

3m long insulating paint insulation (thermal conductivity of

about 0.05W/m K);

3m long vacuum insulation (thermal conductivity of about

0.0001W/m K).
Table 4 outlines a moderate improvement in comparison with
the 4mcase, while keeping a similar trend: the better is the insu-
lation, the higher is the heat exchange, with small differences
between vacuum and insulating paint. However, again only the
vacuum case assures the complete outlet steam dryness. Further
drawbacks are the relatively high number of tubes for the whole
reactor (more than 6600) and the low stiffness of the tube, due to
its high thinness and sharpness, which requires numerous spacers
to keep the structure in position.
As a consequence, the larger diameter conguration C has
been introduced, as it allows an increased heat exchange, thanks
to the more extended surface of the tube. The lead mass ow-rate
has been set to 6.367kg/s while the water-steam has been set to
0.0471kg/s which both correspond to an approximate number of
510 tubes per SG.
As expected, the results in Table 5 indicate that the exchanged
power per bayonet widelyincreases (byabout 55%), stronglyreduc-
ing the number of tubes necessary. Also, the droplets absence in
the outlet steam is ensured even with the insulating paint. Since
the outlet steam temperature remains widely below the target of
450

C, an even larger exchange surface is necessary: therefore, the

6mcase has then been investigated.
4.4. Six metres tube length case
As in the previous cases, different inner pipe insulation geome-
tries have beeninvestigated. The insulationlengths below3mhave
been abandoned after the rst trials and a 6minsulation, that is as
long as the whole inner tube, has instead been introduced.
The same 4 insulation means described in the previous para-
graphs have been simulated. Also, only the highest conductivity
value for the safety gap (55 times helium conductivity) has been
adopted. For 6m bayonets length, only the conguration C has
been investigated with the same mass owrate values used for the
5mlong tube.
The results here presented include a 6mtube with:

no insulation (slave tube absent);

both 3 and 6mlong water insulation (thermal conductivity vary-

ing inthe range 0.4110.494W/m K, depending ontemperature);

both 3 and 6mlong insulating paint insulation (thermal conduc-

tivity of about 0.05W/m K);
160 L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163
Table 3
Performances in case of favourable gap conductivity (55 times kHe) case.
Four metres case conguration A
Insulation Power per bayonet (kW
th
) Outlet Tsteam (

C) Outlet static qual. Outlet void fraction Tubes for 37.5MW

None 42.214 429.5 0.958 0.99453 888
Water 43.407 440.0 0.996 0.99944 864
Paint 43.460 441.0 1.000 0.99993 863
Vacuum 43.520 441.1 1.000 1.0000 862
Table 4
Five metres tubes conguration A: performance.
Five metres case conguration A
Insulation Power per bayonet (kW
th
) Outlet Tsteam (

C) Outlet static qual. Outlet void fraction Tubes for 37.5MW

None 43.922 448.0 0.979 0.99736 854
Water 45.466 457.0 0.996 0.99955 825
Paint 45.754 459.1 1.000 0.99995 820
Vacuum 45.794 459.4 1.000 1.00000 819
Table 5
Five metres tubes conguration C: performance.
Five metres case conguration C
Insulation Power per bayonet (kW
th
) Outlet Tsteam (

C) Outlet static qual. Outlet void fraction Tubes for 37.5MW

None 68.145 424.7 0.984 0.99775 550
Water 70.096 432.3 0.999 0.99987 535
Paint 70.283 432.3 1.000 1.00000 534
Vacuum 70.306 432.4 1.000 1.00000 533

both 3 and 6mlong vacuuminsulation (thermal conductivity of

about 0.0001W/m K).
Tables 6 and 7show that the 6m long bayonet is eventually
able to reach the required thermal power exchanged giving an
outlet temperature even slightly higher than required with both
3 and 6m long insulation. Both the vacuum and the insulating
paint options are suitable to assure the dryness of the outlet
steam and the desired number of 510 bayonets. Evident advan-
tages in the construction process (a much easier and cheaper
construction) lead to abandon the 3m long slave as well as the
vacuum insulation. The considered geometry also makes very
difcult the vacuum conservation because of the likelihood of
leakages due to the high steam pressure (180bar). Moreover, a
6-metres-long slave tube enhances slight improvement in ther-
mal performances, visible in terms of exchanged power and outlet
temperature.
What exposed above shows that the most convenient congu-
ration is the option with a 6-metres-long bayonet equipped with
special paint insulation for the whole tube length. The absence of
droplets is testied by the outlet void fraction and static quality
both equal to 1. Furthermore, the slightly higher outlet tempera-
ture obtained can be useful to compensate possible heat losses in
the steamplenumand in the steamline.
5. SG design and analysis
After having sized the single bayonet, another investigation has
involved the whole SG in order to take account for the other non-
negligible components of the device, such as:

The feed-water line;

The feed-water chamber;

The upper stretch of the descending tube;

Table 6
Six metres bayonet with 3minsulation: performance.
Six metres case insulation 3mlong
Insulation Power (kW
th
) Outlet Tsteam (

C) Outlet static quality Outlet void fraction Tubes for 37.5MW

None 70.396 438.9 0.976 0.99682 533
Water 73.552 451.2 0.999 0.99988 510
Paint 73.686 451.4 1.000 1.00000 509
Vacuum 73.720 451.5 1.000 1.00000 508
Table 7
Six metres bayonet with 6minsulation: performance.
Six metres case insulation 6mlong
Insulation Power (kW
th
) Outlet Tsteam (

C) Outlet static qual. Outlet void fraction Tubes for 37.5MW

None 70.396 438.9 0.976 0.99682 533
Water 73.512 451.4 0.999 0.99988 510
Paint 73.765 451.9 1.000 1.00000 508
Vacuum 73.809 452.1 1.000 1.00000 508
L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163 161

The upper stretchof the annulus, whichpasses throughthe Argon

plenumjust above lead and through the Heliumplenum;

The steamplenum;

The steamline.
The only aim of this phase of the work has been the thermal
sizing of the heat exchangers; hence, no investigation about the
owstability has been conducted.
5.1. Steamgenerator design data
According to the SG tube conguration illustrated in Section 3,
the investigationof the whole component started implementing all
the geometrical design data reported in Table 8 which rely on the
single bayonet analysis, i.e. a 6mlong conguration C.
Table 9 summarizes the hydraulic working condition for pri-
mary and secondary loops: the thermal cycle remains the same,
with the only modication of the mass ow-rates, to account for
the presence of all the 510 bayonet tubes.
5.2. Steamgenerator RELAP5 input model description
The above described SGhas been modelled in order to simulate,
through the RELAP5 tool, a 100% power case and predict the related
performances.
Fig. 7 shows the two subsystems in which the model is divided,
the primary leadone (inred) andthe secondary water one (inblue).
As in the single bayonet investigation, the lead systemis composed
by only 5 elements having a simplied noding. The mass ow-rate
(3247.54kg/s) is again imposed by the time dependent junction
Fig. 7. SteamGenerator RELAP5-3D nodding.
162 L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163
Table 8
Steamgenerator design geometry.
Steamgenerator geometry Bayonet tube
Number of coaxial tubes 4
Slave tube outer diameter 9.52mm
Slave tube thickness 1.07mm
Inner tube outer diameter 19.05mm
Inner tube thickness 1.88mm
Outer tube outer diameter 25.4mm
Outer tube thickness 1.88mm
Outermost tube (gap) outer diameter 31.73mm
Outermost tube thickness 2.11mm
Length of exchange 6m
Argon plenumheight 1m
Heliumplenumheight 0.8m
Steamplenumheight 0.8m
T91 plate height 0.25m
Number of tubes 510
P/D (triangular array) 1.42
(component 101 in Fig. 7), whilst the inlet lead temperature is
imposed through the time dependent volume 100.
The water-steam system is fairly more complicated than the
previous singlebayonet investigation, as it includes somenewcom-
ponents upstreamof the descending pipe, i.e.: the feed-water line
(202); the feed-water plenum (206) and the uppermost part of
the descending tube (212), that is the one passing through the
steam, the helium and the argon plena. The water mass ow rate
(24.068kg/s) and its inlet temperature (335

C) are again imposed

by respectively time dependent junction 201 and time depend-
ent volume 200. Downstream of the previous model, three new
pipes (components 242 and 248) have been included in order to
simulate the additional bayonet length (not effective in terms of
heat exchange with the primary lead) introduced to account for
the arrangement of the bayonet tubes in the SG plates (see Fig. 2).
The steam line (pipe 252) entering eventually the time depend-
ent volume 254, which imposes the steam line current pressure,
completes the model water side.
Heat structures 001 and 004 represent the double external
tube wall and slave tube wall respectively, while the 002 and the
003 represent the slave tube wall in the extended portion of the
bayonets.
The double external wall of the bayonet thermally connects the
secondary uid to the helium and argon plena through the heat
structures 005 and 006. All the thermal characteristics of the
materials have been kept the same as in the nal conguration of
the single bayonet, previously discussed.
The bayonet tubes bundle has been modelled through one
collapsed pipe of the suitable cross-section crossed by the total
water mass ow rate; pressure drop and heat exchange are
characterized through the single tube hydraulic and thermal diam-
eter.
A tantalum thickness has also been simulated on the shell
side, which protects bayonets fromthe erosion caused by primary
lead.
Table 9
SG working condition.
Working condition for each SG
Primary loop Secondary loop
Fluid Lead Water
Pressure Atmospheric 180bar
Temperature at the SG inlet 480

C 335

C
Temperature at the SG outlet 400

C 450

C
Mass owrate 3247.54kg/s 24.068kg/s
Exchanged thermal power 37.5MW
Table 10
Global steamgenerator performance.
Steamgenerator performance
Number of tubes (#) 510
Removed power (MW) 37.5
Core outlet lead temperature (

C) 480.0
Core inlet lead temperature (

C) 401.3
Feed-water temperature (

C) 335.0
Immersed bayonet steamoutlet temperature (

C) 451.3
Steamplenumtemperature (

C) 450.1
Steamplenumvoid fraction () 1.000
Steamplenumstatic quality () 1.000
SG steam/water side global pressure drop (bar) 3.30
5.3. SG full power steady state condition
The investigation on the steam generator has focused on the
steady state condition of 100% power and therefore no transient
investigation and simulation have been conducted.
The model has been set up with initial conditions for tempera-
tures, pressures and mass ow rates approximately near those of
the steady state. The end of calculation has then been set to obtain
stabilization of the systemproperties in each component.
The predicted performances are shown in Table 10 and well
explained by Figs. 810.
The total power exchanged is 37.5MWin accordance with the
target: this valueis calculatedbythecodethroughacontrol variable
which sums up the amount of power exchanged in each volume of
the bayonets. The lead temperature at the SG outlet, that is the
core inlet, is 401.3

C, a bit more than expected (400

C) probably
Fig. 8. Steamgenerator temperatures proles.
Fig. 9. Steamvoid fraction vs. S.G. Annulus length.
L. Damiani et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 265 (2013) 154163 163
Fig. 10. Static quality vs. S.G. Annulus length.
due to the RELAP 5-3Dcorrelationadoptedfor the leadspecic heat
capacity.
The predicted steam temperature is 451.3

C at the end of the

exchanging stretch of the bayonet and decreases down to 450.1

C
in the steamplenumdue to the heat exchange with the cold water
entering the tubes. As shown in the plot of Fig. 8, approximately in
the rst half metre of the annulus at the bottomof the bayonet, the
water reaches saturation.
The non-uniformity of the heat release has not been taken into
account in the present calculations. The spatial non-uniformity
existing in the system may lead to an increase of the bayonets
number required to obtain the desired power exchanged. Further
calculations, for example through CFD codes, are planned for the
future development of the component design.
As indicated in Fig. 8, the phase change takes place between
about 0.6 and 3m while the evaporation of the liquid droplets
present inthe vapour phase is complete by 3.6mof exchanging sur-
face. This is well displayed in the Void Fraction (vapourvolume to
total-volume ratio) graph (Fig. 9) which also shows that the evapo-
ration begins after 0.6m. Static quality (vapourmass to total-mass
ratio) and void fraction are equal to 1 for the last 2.7m, assuring the
superheated dry steamcondition at the outlet.
6. Conclusions
The presented paper deals with the conceptual design of the
ALFRED lead demonstrator reactor steamgenerators, for which an
innovative bayonet tubes geometry has been proposed. The work
has rst concerned the modelling through the RELAP 5-3D code of
a single bayonet tube and after of the whole steamgenerator.
Several bayonet congurations have been investigated, includ-
ing different lengths of the bayonet, different insulation methods
between inner and outlet tube and different lengths of the
insulation. The conguration nally chosen is a 6m long bayonet
(referring to its active part submerged in the primary lead), with
a special paint 6mlong insulation of the inner tube.
The performance of the whole steamgenerator with its bundle
of 510 tubes has been nally investigated, assuring the attain-
ment of the required SGperformances, namely: a 37.5MWthermal
power; a steamoutlet temperature of 450

C; fully dry steamat the

exit.
The simulations performed with the dedicated RELAP5-3D
Steam Generator model have provided satisfactory results, which
prove the feasibility of the bayonet tube steam generator for
ALFRED, the demonstrator of the industrial full size LFR plant.
The RELAP calculations carried out in the present work have
been useful for the conceptual design, at a preliminary level, of the
bayonet tube and the SG; however, a more thorough investigation
is required to complete the component design, for example with
the aid of a CFD solver, both for the single tube analysis (Sun and
Yang, 2013) and for the whole SG. In the second case, the analysis
will be carried out once the main components adjacent to the SG
are dened in detail, in order to allowthe imposition of the correct
boundary conditions.
Investigations about structural and material resistance are still
to be conducted, leading then to an experimental phase which will
be performed within the LEADER consortiumto complete the anal-
ysis.
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