The final goal of the work is to provide useful recommendations and guidelines for the design of a cold plug for the emergency draining system of a molten salt reactor. Some numerical thermal simulations were performed with ANSYS mechanical (Finite Element Method) to be compared with results of the experiments and to make extrapolations for a new component to be used in a reactor. | Development of a cold plug valve with fluoride salt EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 5 9 2019 Nuclear Sciences J. Giraud et al. published by EDP Sciences 2019 amp Technologies https epjn 2019005 Available online at https REGULAR ARTICLE Development of a cold plug valve with fluoride salt Julien Giraud2 Veronique Ghetta2 Pablo Rubiolo3 and Mauricio Tano Retamales1 1 Univ. Grenoble Alpes LPSC-IN2P3 38026 Grenoble Cedex France 2 CNRS LPSC-IN2P3 38026 Grenoble Cedex France 3 Grenoble INP Institute of Engineering University Grenoble Alpes LPSC-IN2P3 38026 Grenoble Cedex France Received 15 February 2019 Received in final form 21 June 2019 Accepted 27 June 2019 Abstract. Experimental studies have been developed on a new freeze plug concept for safety valves in facilities using molten salt. They are designed to allow the closure of an upstream circuit by solidifying the molten salt in a section of the device and to passively melt in case of a loss of electric power thus releasing the upper fluid. The working principle of these cold plug designs relies on the control of the heat transfer balance inside the device which determines whether the salt inside the cold plug solidifies or melts. The device is mainly composed of steel masses that are dimensioned to provide sufficient thermal heat storage to melt the salt and thus open the cold plug after the electric power is stopped. The final goal of the work is to provide useful recommendations and guidelines for the design of a cold plug for the emergency draining system of a molten salt reactor. Some numerical thermal simulations were performed with ANSYS mechanical Finite Element Method to be compared with results of the experiments and to make extrapolations for a new component to be used in a reactor. 1 Introduction Shut-off valves are designed to be capable of providing very low leakage when closed. In mechanical valves good Molten Salt Reactors have attracted increased attention in sealing is provided by
