Pb-16Li/water interaction: Experimental results and preliminary modelling activities

The Water Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) blanket is based on the eutectic liquid alloy Pb16Li as breeder material and neutron multiplier, and pressurised water as coolant. The liquid breeder flows at few mm/s in the blanket module while the pressurised water is circulated inside double-wall tubes. te of the adoption of double-wall tubes for the coolant, the probability of a water large leak because of a tube rupture accident cannot be considered negligible. As a consequence, the Pb16Li/water interaction due to a large break in one or more cooling tubes still remains one of the biggest concerns for this blanket concept. aper reports the results of three experimental tests on Pb16Li/water interaction carried out at ENEA-Brasimone operating the LIFUS 5 facility. Water was injected into the reaction tank, containing Pb16Li at 330 °C, at a pressure of 155 bar with different values of sub-cooling and with different free volumes in the reaction system. In addition, post test analyses with SIMMER III code are presented in order to compare the pressure evolution measured during the experiments with that calculated by the code.