Comissioning of the new heat exchanger for the research nuclear reractor IEA-R1

Abstract

The Research Reactor IEA-R1 placed at IPEN/CNEN-SP is of the swimming pool type, light water moderated and with graphite reflectors, and was build and designed by Babcock&Wilcox Co. Start up operation was in September the 16th, 1957, being the first criticality for South Hemisphere. Although designed to operate at 5 MW, the IEA-R1 was operated until 2001 with 2 MW and was suitable for use in basic and applied research as well as the production of medical radioisotopes, industry and natural sciences applications. Due to a recent demand increase on radioisotopes in Brazil for medical diagnoses and therapies applications, IPEN /CNEN updated the IEA-R1 power to 5 MW and to work at continuous operation regime. Studies on the Ageing Management for the Research Reactor IEA-R1 were conducted according to IAEA procedures. As result of these studies critical components within the Ageing Management Program were identified. Also were made recommendations on the implementation of test scheduling and standardization procedures to organize data and documents. One of the main results was the need of monitoring the two heat exchangers, the two primary circuit pumps and the data acquisition system. During monitoring procedures, issues were observed on the IEA-R1 operation at 5 MW mainly due to the ageing of the Babcox & Wilcox TCA heat exchanger, and excessive vibrations at high flow rates on CBC’s TCB heat exchanger. So, from 2005 on, it was decided to work with 3,5 MW and provide a new IESA heat exchanger with 5 MW capacity, to substitute the TCA heat exchanger. This work presents results on the commissioning of the new heat exchanger and compares against the values calculated in the IESA project. The results show that the IEA-R1 Reactor can be operated more safety and continuously at 5 MW with the new IESA heat exchanger .