Heat Transfer Analysis of a Conceptual Horizontally-Oriented High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor

Abstract High temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) have been constructed around the world since the 1960s. Compared to light water reactors, HTGRs feature a low core power density, which ultimately results in the need for larger components and structures. The successful widespread deployment of HTGRs will likely require a significant reduction in reactor building size per kW, to compete with other sources of carbon-free energy. The Modular Integrated Gas-cooled High Temperature Reactor (MIGHT-R) has been recently proposed to leverage inherent safety characteristics of HTGRs and its proven technology, while increasing its reactor building power density by 4 to 5 times. Contrarily to the vertical side-by-side orientation of the reactor core and steam generator of the typical HTGR design, the MIGHTR primary system components are laid horizontally, inline with one another. In this paper, a design embodiment of MIGHT-R concept is presented and preliminary heat transfer analysis under normal operating conditions is performed adopting a simplified porous representation of the flow behavior inside the reactor core and steam generator. The predicted mass flow rates in the fuel region, inner reflectors and outer reflectors agree with analytical estimations. A set of sensitivity tests for components variations are presented to provide insights on the influence of design parameters. A preliminary design reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) is presented which is basically a 100 °C “water shell” surrounding the reactor vessel and it only covers the reactor core regions. Comparison of the same design with different orientations is also made and indicates that the mass flow and temperature distribution inside the reactor core have low dependence on orientation. Based on the computational results, the stratification of the coolant in the horizontal configuration for normal operation is deemed negligible. The presented work supports the normal operation feasibility of a horizontally-oriented HTGR concept with its potential to significantly reduce HTGR capital cost.