Experimental facilities for Generation IV reactors research

Centrum Výzkumu Řež (CVR) is research and development Company situated in Czech Republic and member of the UJV group. One of its major fields is material research for Generation IV reactor concepts, especially supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR), very high temperature/gas-cooled fast reactor (VHTR/GFR) and lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR). The CVR is equipped by and is building unique experimental facilities which simulate the environment in the active zones of these reactor concepts and enable to prequalify and to select proper constructional materials for the most stressed components of the facility (cladding, vessel, piping). New infrastructure is founded within the SUStainable ENergy project focused on implementation the Generation IV and fusion experimental facilities. The research of SCWR concept is divided to research and development of the constructional materials ensured by SuperCritical Water Loop (SCWL) and fuel components research on Fuel Qualification Test loop (SCWL-FQT). SCWL provides environment of the primary circuits of European SCWR, pressure 25 MPa, temperature 600°C and its major purpose is to simulate behavior of the primary medium and candidate constructional materials. On-line monitoring system is included to collect the operational data relevant to experiment and its evaluation (pH, conductivity, chemical species concentration). SCWL-FQT is facility focused on the behavior of cladding material and fuel at the conditions of so-called preheater, the first pass of the medium through the fuel (in case of European SCWR concept). The conditions are 450°C and 25 MPa. SCWL-FQT is unique facility enabling research of the shortened fuel rods. VHTR/GFR research covers material testing and also cleaning methods of the medium in primary circuit. The High Temperature Helium Loop (HTHL) enables exposure of materials and simulates the VHTR/GFR core environment to analyze the behavior of medium, especially in presence of organic compounds and dust particles. The system enables to connect various cleaning modules to test the efficiency of cleaning from various impurities. The parameters in specimen area are 900°C and 8 MPa. Two new helium loops are currently being built to reach with higher flow and higher temperature and new possibilities in medium treatment. The CVR is equipped with three facilities enabling the research in support of the LFR - COLONRI I (liquid Pb-Bi eutectic), COLONRI II (liquid Pb) and CALLISTO (mechanical testing in Heavy Liquid Metals, HLM, environment). COLONRI I and II are natural convection loops for material and instrumentation testing in HLM representative conditions (max. temperature - Pb 650°C; PbBi 550°C), CALLISTO is a cell to be connected to a tensile test machine to investigate the mechanical properties of materials in the HLM environment. All the facilities are briefly described and operational details and figures are given in the article. Also the obtained results from the operation are given.