How does that avoid having a high pressure steam tube inside or next to a low pressure salt tube or container?If not they should be using a bypass boiler with Salt/steam superheater. No water and salt in the same HEX.
KitemanSA, did you look in the PDF for the EPRI FE LFTR tech assessment? Click on that link and open the document publicly posted there. Page 3-13 is the diagram.KitemanSA wrote:If so they are making a big mistake, unless maybe they are trying SC H2O. If not they should be using a bypass boiler with Salt/steam superheater. No water and salt in the same HEX.
Did you mean "SC H2O" or scCO2?The gaseous working fluid (supercritical carbon dioxide) of the PCS leaves the gas heater (8) at its maximum temperature and enters the main turbine, where it drives the turbine in a nearly isentropic manner, losing enthalpy and generating shaft work from the turbine.
Space.com wrote:Orbital's unmanned Antares rocket exploded in a brilliant fireball shortly after launching from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 6:22 p.m. EDT (2222 GMT; October 28, 2014), crashing back down to the launch pad in a flaming heap. The Antares was carrying Orbital's unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, which was toting 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) of food, scientific experiments and other supplies on this flight — the third cargo mission to the space station under a $1.9 billion contract the company holds with NASA.
For the sodium case the explosion occurs outside of the tank, at the surface of the water so there is no mechanical stress to the tank. The sodium didn't enter into the water because of the chemical reaction. In a sodium-water steam generator, if there is a leak, the pressure of the water leads to a better mixing with the sodium which can lead the demise of the steam generator (although there is no explosion here since there is no oxygen to react with the hydrogen normally).Those points are all true. However it is interesting that a physical effect induced purely by temperature created an explosion much larger than the impact from the chemical effect of Sodium hitting water. It really does show the need to test such things.
That is the best response yet. Thankyou for that insight. Obvious with hindsight.The first trials with NaCl didn't destroy the glass tanks and remember that NaCl melts at 801 °C, a temperature far superior to the maximum temperature of current MSR concepts.
