Estimation on Operating Parameter of Carrier Gas Cooler in the FHS Pneumatic of RDE (Sukmanto Dibyo*, , Ign. Djoko Irianto)

Abstract. The High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) is considered as one of the reactor type for the future nuclear
power plant. The Fuel Handling System (FHS) is one of the important system in HTGR as well as in development design
of RDE (Reaktor Daya Eksperimen). In the FHS, the fuel pebble is transported pneumatically by compressor into the
reactor core. Due to the carrier gas from a primary cooling system is a hot helium gas, so it should be cooled in obtaining
better performance of compressor. The purpose of this work is to estimate the operating parameter of carrier gas cooler
based on the variation for the cooling water flow rate and outlet temperature of cooler. In this analyses, the
ChemCAD.6.4.1 program was used. Both inlet and outlet temperature of carrier gas have been set up as specified
conditions. The result shows that the coolant mass flow rate could be operated at minimum of 0.4 kg/s. Meanwhile in the
lower range up to 0.3 kg/s, it appears a pinch zone in the internal length of cooler. However, to avoid the saturation
temperature of coolant (118.64o
C and 1.90bar) the minimum mass flow rate of 1.0 kg/s was suggested. This estimation is
useful to determine the best operating parameter in the design of FHS especially for the cooling flow rate requirements.
Keywords: cooling mass flow rate, Fuel handling of RDE, cooler of carrier gas, pneumatic system