Inhibiting boiling in coolant - of liquid metal cooled reactor

摘要

A method of reducing incident risks due to overheating the liquid metal coolant in a fast reactor by a porous sintered metal layer on the outer surface at the fuel elements. The layer contains the elements Boron-10 or Beryllium-7 which under neutron bombardment and in the region of coolant b.p. break down into Helium or Hydrogen and these gases escape through the porous layer into the coolant stream to inhibit boiling.