Sodium leak collection trays (LCT) are provided below sodium pipes of fast reactors to minimize the hazardous effects of sodium fire. LCT collects the leaked sodium in a hold up vessel, suppress the sodium fire by oxygen starvation and guide the sodium to inert sodium transfer tank. Towards this, a network of carbon steel pipelines is laid out connecting all the LCT to sodium transfer tank, with each pipe having a fusible plug. The plug separates air environment in LCT and argon environment in transfer tank. Woods metal with low melting point is the preliminary choice for the plug. Leaked sodium by virtue of its high temperature melts the plug and drains into transfer tank. Transient thermal hydraulic investigations have been carried out to predict fusing characteristics of the plug. Detailed parametric studies indicate that effective plug melting and trouble free sodium draining are possible for 3 mm thick plug.

Keywords: sodium leak, leak collection tray, anaylitical solution, numerical solution, fusible plug