Development of the cooling technology on TRU fuel pin bundle during fuel fabrication process (4) steady state cooling test of full mock up fuel pin bundle

The development of the fast reactor cycle is being preceded in Japan to utilize plutonium and trans-uranium materials which come from the simplified PUREX reprocessing. But the TRU fuel bundle generates heat due to fission of TRU during the fabrication process of the wire wrapped Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) fuel pin bundle. Then it is a big issue to develop an efficient cooling system for the horizontally laid bundle and to clarify its thermal behavior. Then in this paper the steady state full mock up test results are described. Inlet air velocity and heat generation rate were varied in the tests as the parameter. Then it is ascertained that the fuel can be cooled under the 473 K which is the criterion for the steady state cooling of this study to keep cladding soundness. The temperature and velocity fields of the bundle upper side were also measured by moving thermocouples to vertical and horizontal directions, by the infrared thermometer and by PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry). Then the temperature and velocity fields at outlet region are clarified.