Abstract
Sodium leaks and resultant fires play an important role in safe operation of a Fast Breeder Reactor. Leak Collection Tray (LCT) is a passive device which is used to collect the highly reactive liquid sodium in case of an accidental leakage. The sodium fire is contained based on the principle of oxygen starvation which effectively extinguishes the sodium fire and mitigate the consequences of it. The leak collection tray basically consists of two parts, an upper part with two sloping plates which guides the leaked sodium to a central drainpipe and a lower part which is the sodium hold up vessel. In the current work numerical simulations have been performed to analyze the flow of hot liquid sodium in the LCT. The simulation involves tracking of the interface between the hot sodium and the ambient air for which the Volume of Fluid (VOF) technique has been used. Effect of various parameters such as slope angle, drain pipe diameter and vent pipe diameter on the collection efficiency of the tray has been studied and optimized design parameters have been attained considering the constraints imposed by the combustion of liquid sodium.
