Seminar will give an overview of the past nuclear LMR component and system thermal-fluid sciences phenomenological experiments and computer simulations conducted at Argonne. Argonne from the early 1970s through the early 1990s was the Department of Energy's lead lab for thermal-hydraulic development of liquid metal cooled fast reactors.

There exists an important need for continued research and development regarding the thermal-fluid sciences and the companion computer simulation tools to support DOE's renewed thrust for developing and demonstrating under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Argonne's proposed Liquid Metal-Advanced Burner Reactor. Improved understanding is needed regarding the impact of complex reactor coolant thermal-fluid distributions dominated by thermal-buoyancy forces on reactor global operation and on the behavior/performance of individual components during off-normal events involving the transition from normal to low-flow operation. Low-flow coolant phenomena will be described which involve complex thermal-hydraulic-structure behavior. This behavior is not adequately understood or appreciated byreactor designers/operators or adequately simulated by today's CFD codes.

It is proposed to establish at Argonne a National GNEP-LMR Research and Development Center having as its foundation state-of-art science-based infrastructure consisting of: a) thermal-hydraulic experimental capabilities for conducting both water and sodium testing of individual reactor components and complete reactor in-vessel models and b)
computational modeling development and validation capability that is strongly interfaced with the experimental facilities.