Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop Facility
METLArgonne’s METL facility supports development of next-generation components and workforce for sodium fast reactors.
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 test components that are required to operate in a prototypical advanced reactor environment. Experiments conducted in METL significantly assist the development of advanced reactors.
Current capabilities that reside in the METL facility include:
- 750 Gallons of Reactor Grade Sodium
- Prototypic Reactor Temperatures of 650°C
- 4 Test Vessels
- 4 Additional Test Loops
- 300 Heater Zones
- 1000+ Sensors
- 2 Operational Tanks with Ports for Experiments
- Sodium Purification and Contamination Monitoring