Simulation Studies of the Sodium Hydraulic Behaviour to Design a Mock-Up for ECFM Testing

Abstract

The Eddy Current Flowmeter (ECFM) sensor plays an important part in the instrumentation of the future Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR), which will allows when located above the core to detect plugging (partial or total) of a sub assembly and when located on the primary pump to measure core pressure drop and core flowrate. This document describes the pre-design phase of a mock-up for ECFM tests and qualifications under sodium conditions for the detection of a partial or full plugging of a fuel sub-assembly. These tests will be the first of their kind, as the ECFM had never been qualified at nominal conditions of a reactor core outlet (sodium temperature, velocity and output flow).