Bellows-Type Accumulators for Liquid Metal Loops of Space Reactor Power Systems.

In many space nuclear power systems, the primary and/or secondary loops use liquid metal working fluids, and require accumulators to accommodate the change in the liquid metal volume and maintain sufficient subcooling to avoid boiling. This paper developed redundant and light-weight bellows-type accumulators with and without a mechanical spring, and compared the operating condition and mass of the accumulators for different types of liquid metal working fluids and operating temperatures: potassium, NaK-78, sodium and lithium loops of a total capacity of 50 liters and nominal operating temperatures of 840 K, 860 K, 950 K and 1340 K, respectively. The effects of using a mechanical spring and different structural materials on the design, operation and mass of the accumulators are also investigated. The structure materials considered include SS-316, Hastelloy-X, C-103 and Mo-14Re. The accumulator without a mechanical spring weighs 23 kg and 40 kg for a coolant subcooling of 50 K and 100 K, respectively, following a loss of the fill gas. The addition of a mechanical spring comes with a mass penalty, in favor of higher redundancy and maintaining a higher liquid metal subcooling. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]