WorkshopS

GEN-IV Webinar: The Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL) Facility at Argonne National Laboratory

December 14, 2022

The Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL) facility, established in 2010, is an intermediate-scale liquid metal experimental facility that provides purified R-grade sodium to various experimental test vessels to evaluate components required to operate in a prototypical Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) environment. The METL facility has the capability to test small to intermediate-scale components and systems in order to develop advanced liquid metal technologies. METL is a flexible facility as multiple configurations are available, enabling the hosting of experimental investigations from a range of disciplines with cross-cutting results.

The presentation provided an overview of METLs entire ecosystem; beginning with the flagship facility’s design methodology, construction and virtual tour. Supporting equipment such as the qualifying stations, test article removal/insertion flexible-cask and alkali metal passivation techniques/hardware will be covered as well. METLs demonstrated capabilities and infrastructure available to facilitate various research initiatives are summarized and the webinar will conclude with a highlight reel of current experimental programs as well as, what future technologies/demonstrations to expect from the METL team.