EDF DIPDE  – Borax system design and build

Amentum and Fives Group are carrying out design studies for a new system to protect nuclear power reactors in the event of core melt accidents.

After the Fukushima disaster, EDF’s Division de l’ingénierie du Parc et De L’Environnement (DIPDE), committed to assessing the feasibility of a system to maintain the alkalinity of water in order to reduce the maximum amount of radioactive iodine that could be released during a severe accident. Baskets containing sodium tetraborate (TBS/Borax) were installed in France’s 1300Mwe and N4 light water reactors to alkalinize the water and limit the release of gaseous iodine.

The Amentum-Fives consortium is responsible for design studies for a similar system, to be installed on France’s older 900MWe power plants, and qualification tests to demonstrate borax dissolution performance according to specified technical criteria.

Our teams are defining the process characteristics of the borax basket and are conducting a testing program at our laboratories in Warrington, UK, aimed at characterizing the dissolution of borax as well as its long-term aging and settling behavior. The contract led to the manufacture of a prototype to demonstrate design performance.

Project results will serve as input data for a future contract covering procurement, manufacturing and installation on all units.