Reactor Physics: The PEREN platform

Introduction Neutronics Chemistry

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Chemistry

The year 2004 was dedicated to a rehabilitation of the room (approximately 150 m²) where the PEREN project chemistry lab would be installed. The ceiling, the floors and the walls were covered with special coatings. A f ume cupboard , an entrance compartment and an office were also created.

The laboratory’s main equipment is a set of three glove boxes that are to be used to manufacture molten fluorine salt cylinders. In order to ensure a clean atmosphere inside the glove boxes, we have had to set up a reliable and continuous inert gas feeding system. Moreover, for security reasons, the installation has received an oxygen detection system and a room ventilation system that operates permanently during the day and can renew the full air volume up to five times per hour.

At the end of 2005, the big equipment and the instruments were installed so that preliminary fusion tests could be done.

The experiment system consists of a series of three glove boxes in a slightly depressurized atmosphere so as to ensure that the materials remain confined (the powders are toxic and react to water and oxygen). Argon circulation and a purification unit maintain a low water and oxygen content, on the order of a few ppm, in the glove boxes. The system includes the equipment needed for small scale tests on molten metals and salts. The first box is intended for salt preparations. It is used to store products, weigh them, mix the powders and eliminate any gas from the samples.

PEREN – the set of three glove boxes

The second box is intended for the fusion of the salts. It is connected to a well-oven (1) which we have designed and manufactured so as to be able to realize oriented solidifications. This oven’s electric power is 12 kW. It includes a heating body divided in three independent, equal power zones whose temperatures are controlled by a programmable system configured by the electronics department of the lab. Heating is thus programmable in each zone, with a temperature difference of about one degree Celsius between the lowest and the highest part of the oven. This system can be operated at up to 1000°C. In order to be able to handle crucibles (2) weighing about 15 kg, a pulley block (3) and a support basket were set up. To avoid overheating the glove box while heating the inside of the oven at 900°C, a cooling unit (4) was fastened to the ceiling, a cold loop with water circulation (5) was soldered to the interface between the glove box and the oven and an isolating plug (6) placed at the end of the cavity.

The third box is intended for the conditioning of the salt cylinders. In it, machine finishing (sawing and boring) of salt cylinders will take place, according to the needs of the experiments.