Core Alloy Flow and Erosion Facility

 CAFÉ
A state-of-the-art experimental platform designed to investigate the safety-related behaviors of metallic fuels in sodium-cooled fast reactors under postulated severe accident conditions.

Argonne’s Core Alloy Flow and Erosion (CAFÉ) facility is an advanced experimental setup developed to study the safety-related behaviors of metallic fuels in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) during postulated severe accident scenarios. By replicating real-world conditions of postulated severe accident scenarios in prototypic core structures with prototypic fuel and coolant materials, CAFÉ provides invaluable data for the development and validation of safety analysis codes, such as SAS4A/SASSYS-1, and supports the safety assessments and licensing process for SFRs.

Key Capabilities and Features

  • Metallic Fuel Testing: The facility is equipped to handle prototypic Metallic Fuel materials, like U-10wt%Zr, in sodium coolant environments.
  • Severe Accidents Investigation: CAFÉ can test various stages of postulated severe accidents, from early-phase cladding breach to late-phase fuel relocation.
  • Phenomena Investigation: The facility is designed to study critical safety-related behaviors, including fuel dispersion and fragmentation, eutectic penetration, fuel assembly wall ablation, and coolability of relocated fuels.
Schematic Diagram of CAFÉ Facility

Facility Main Components

  • Pressure Melt Vessel: A vessel designed to heat and melt and inject metallic fuels with high-pressure conditions.
  • Test Section: The test section, which can simulate core structures to plenums to core catchers, is heated by the vertical split tube furnace to prototypic temperatures.
  • Sodium Transfer System: A system for transferring sodium coolant between the facility components.
  • Exhaust System: A system for safely managing and filtering exhaust gases.
  • Real-Time X-ray Video System (RTXVS): A powerful tool for observing and recording the fuel injection and relocation process in real-time.

By leveraging the CAFÉ facility and its advanced capabilities, researchers are making significant strides in understanding and mitigating the risks associated with postulated severe accidents in sodium-cooled fast reactors.

Recorded X-Ray Footage by RTXVS
Real Time X-Ray Video System (RTXVS)

Related Publications

  1. Experimental studies on metallic fuel relocation in a single-pin core structure of a sodium-cooled fast reactor
  2. Experimental studies on eutectic formation between metallic fuel and HT-9M cladding in a single-pin core structure of a sodium-cooled fast reactor
  3. Experimental studies on metallic fuel relocation in a pin bundle core structure of a sodium-cooled fast reactor
  4. X-ray and gamma-ray tomographic imaging of fuel relocation inside sodium fast reactor test assemblies during severe accidents
  5. Metal fuel relocation experiments with pressure injection