Preliminary results on the coupling of a three-dimensional lead fast reactor model and a one-dimensional external loop

An accurate three-dimensional simulation of all the components of the primary circuit of a LFR (Lead Fast Reactor) cannot be performed with the current computational power. One strategy to deal with such complex systems is to adopt a multi-scale approach, where different models and geometric representations are introduced for different parts of the reactor. This paper presents a preliminary assessment of a methodology developed in the framework of the FEM-LCORE code to simulate an accident scenario where natural circulation plays a key role in the heat removal