LBE-cooled scaled Pool facility E-SCAPE: Results and applications for code validation

In the framework of MYRRHA Project, a pool-type experimental and material testing irradiation facility is designed to be built in Mol, Belgium, at the SCK•CEN domain. It will be able to operate in both sub-critical and critical mode and Lead Bismuth Eutectic (LBE) will be adopted as primary coolant. SCK•CEN entered the pre-licensing phase for the MYRRHA reactor. A preliminary safety analysis must be performed to provide the necessary data to the safety authority. In order to validate suitable calculation tools, a series of experimental facilities has been planned and built to provide the required missing data in terms of material properties and closure correlations. Among these facilities, the E-SCAPE experiment is a scaled (1:6) model of the MYRRHA primary pool. It specifically aims at the investigation of the steady state and transient behavior of a pool-type LBE reactor, looking at the 3-D phenomena characterizing such systems in both forced and natural circulation. An experimental matrix has been set up to define the transients to be simulated in E-SCAPE, including steady state in both forced and natural circulation, transition from forced to natural circulation, loss of forced flow and loss of heat sink. The E-SCAPE facility has been modeled using the RELAP5-3D code. The model is described and first results are presented. The obtained experimental data can be used to validate the code for MYRRHA safety studies.