Cladding Coolant Testing in Molten Lead

One of the key outstanding challenges required to enable deployment of lead-cooled fast reactors (LFRs) are the material compatibility issues with molten lead (Pb) under reactor operating conditions. To support development of LFRs and advance UK understanding, NNL, as part of the Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme in partnership with BEIS, are looking to conduct corrosion testing of LFR fuel cladding candidates. Although specific coolant environments are dependent on reactor, three main factors will likely impact on material performance: temperature, coolant oxygen content and coolant flow. Recognising the current lack of large scale facilities, for this early phase of testing NNL are primarily…