GB2027839A

GB2027839A - Coating sodium piping

Info

Publication number: GB2027839A
Application number: GB7927681A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Asahi Asbestos Co Ltd; Doryokuro Kakunenryo Kaihatsu Jigyodan; DOHRYOKURO KAKUNENRYO KAIHATSUJIGYODAN
Current assignee: Doryokuro Kakunenryo Kaihatsu Jigyodan; A&A Material Corp; DOHRYOKURO KAKUNENRYO KAIHATSUJIGYODAN
Priority date: 1978-08-11
Filing date: 1979-08-08
Publication date: 1980-02-27
Also published as: DE2932414C2; DE2932414A1; FR2433151B1; JPS6132550B2; JPS5524268A; FR2433151A1; GB2027839B

Abstract

Method of coating piping (1) used to carry liquid sodium coolant in fast breeder reactors for heat insulation and leakage control using a material (2) prepared by adding a caking agent having sodium resistance (e.g. silicate or phosphate) to a raw material also having sodium resistance (e.g. an alkali metal salt or graphite and press-shaped for fitting to the piping. An inorganic light weight aggregate may also be added e.g. pearlite powder, as well as a metallic soap e.g. stearate and/or reinforcement material e.g. stainless steel or mineral fibres. A sheathing (5) is added to the coating outer periphery. The coating may be applied in layers and may define guide grooves for channelling leakage as well as leakage detecting sensors. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Coating sodium piping The present invention relates to a method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor which makes use of metallic sodium as a coolant material.

Heretofore, as a heat insulator material for coating the outside of the aforementioned sodium piping, asbestos, rock wool, pearlite, calcium silicate, ceramic wool, etc. have been used. As is well known, these heat insulator materials are materials developed as heat insulator materials for use normally in a thermal equipment in a plant system, and they have excellent properties as heat insulator materials. That is, they are materials having thermal resistance and a small thermal conductivity.

However, these heat insulator materials would violently react with metallic sodium, would burn while issuing white smoke and would be destroyed when it makes contact with metallic sodium at a high temperature in the atmosphere. Accordingly, in the case of sheathing a sodium piping with these heat insulator materials, if the sodium should leak out of the piping, the leaked sodium would burn while reacting with the heat insulator material, would destroy the heat insulator material and flow out externally, and would result in a very dangerous state where the leaked sodium continues to burn while issuing a large amount of white smoke.Therefore, for example, a method for coating in which the sodium piping is constructed in a double piping structure and the space between the inner and outer pipings is held as an inert gas atmosphere, and a method for coating in which a "trough" or "receiver" is disposed under the piping sheathed with the heat insulator material and even if the sodium should leak and flow out, it is introduced to a "reservoir" where fire is extinguished concentrically, have been proposed and investigated.However, these proposed methods cannot be said perfect because problems still remain in that the former method is not always advantageous in connection to the aspects of construction work as well as economy, and the latter method permits the above-mentioned reaction between the leaked sodium and the heat insulator material, and has the possibility that sodium or its burnt compound may accumulate in the "trough" or "receiver" located under the heat insulator material and thereby prevent the flow of the leaked sodium to the "reservoir".

It is one object of the present invention to provide a method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder rector with a coating material which does not react with metallic sodium at a high temperature nor does not react with sodium that is burning under an oxidation reaction.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor in which leaked metallic sodium can be introduced to a reservoir or the like located at a lower position without being exposed to the atmosphere.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor that is free from the disadvantages in the prior aart and in which the coating material also serves as a heat insulator.

As is well known, metallic sodium is chemically highly reactive, and in the atmosphere it reacts with oxygen, water and most materials and thus burns. For instance, the aboveenumerated heat insulator materials contain SiO2, CaO and Al203 as principal components, and in the atmosphere they violently react with metallic sodiuum at a high temperature (about 600on) and thus burn. Accordingly, the coating material to be used according to the present invention necessarily should have a property of not reacting with metallic sodium at a high temperature, and as one example of such coating materials the following sodium resistive coating material can be used.

That is, the available coating material is a coating material produced by mixing alkali metal salt or graphite having sodium resistance and silicate or phosphate under a wet condition, pressshaping said mixture and thereafter drying the shaped mixture. If necessary, the mixture could be added with inorganic light weight aggregate such as pearlite powder and the like and then press-shaped, and further added with metallic soap and then press-shaped, or it could be further added with a reinforcement material and then press-shaped, and thereafter the shaped mixture could be dried.

The available alkali metal salt having sodium resistance should withstand metallic sodium at a temperature of about 800 C. at the highest, and for instance, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, etc. are available. As the silicate, sodium silicate and lithium silicate are available, and as the phosphate, sodium phosphate is available and further as inorganic light weight aggregate, pearlite powder, vermicolite powder, pumice powder, volcanic ash, etc. are available. As the reinforcement material, stainless steel fiber yarns or wires, or mineral fiber can be used, and as the metallic soap, stearate can be used.

A representative example of the composition of the above-described coating material is as follows: sodium carbonate anhydride 50-70 wt % metal stearate 0.2 -5 wt % stainless steel fiber yarns or wires 0.2 -5 wt % sodium silicate 30-50 wt % Also, a representative example of the composition when inorganic light weight aggregate is added to make the coating material light-weighted is as follows: graphite (50-200 mesh) 20-40 wt % pearlite powder (50-200 mesh) 40-60 wt % mineral fiber 1-5 wt % silicate 10-20 wt % Sodium carbonate dehydride forming a principal component absorbs moisture and becomes hydrates of sodium carbonate, which hydrates include Na2C03#H20, Na2CO3 7H20 and Na 2CO3 1OH20.

In view of the fact that these hydrates are easily decomposed at a temperature of 100 C. or lower and become sodium carbonate dehydride, hydrate of sodium carbonate could be used in place of the sodium carbonate dehydride above. Also, if graphite is used, molding becomes easy because it does not dissolve in water.

Sodium siticate used as a caking agent is available either in a powder state or in a liquidous state. In the case of using sodium carbonate dehydride, liquidous sodium silicate could be used as diluted by water, but in the case of using hydrate of sodium carbonate as described above, preliminarily powder sodium silicate could be mixed and upon shaping an aqueous solution of sodium silicate could be used in addition and then press shaping could be effected.

A stainless steel fiber yarn consists of a bundle of stainless steel fibers (about 12 ju in diameter), and it is effective for facilitating press-shaping and mould-removal of a shaped body, increasing mechanical strength of a shaped body, preventing warp of a shaped body and stabilizing dimensions of a shaped body. The stainless steel fiber yarns include the varieties of SUS 304, SUS 310S, SUS 316L, etc. in terms of JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) for the compositions of stainless steel. Among these varieties, especially SUS 310S has excellent thermal resistance and can withstand a temperature of about 600 C., and this material can be used also in the form of stainless steel wires (about 0.4 mm in diameter). Also, as mineral fibers, asbesto, rock wool, glass fibers and, carbon fibers are available.

Metal stearate which is metallic soap acts as a mould-releasing agent upon removal of a mould, and also it melts at about 100-200 C. and forms a coating film which is effective for preventing penetration of metallic sodium.

The above-described starting compartments are mixed together, the mixture is press-shaped under an entirely wet condition and then dried, and thereby a coating material is prepared.

Practical examples of the composition are as follows: Example 1: light-weight sodium carbonae dehydride 300 parts zinc stearate 6 parts Stainless steel fiber yarns (SUS 310, 3-50 mm in length) 5 parts sodium silicate No. 3 (15% in concentration) 200 parts Zinc stearate is preliminarily well mixed with light-weight sodium carbonate dehydride, and then sodium silicate of 15% in concentration and stainless steel fiber yarns are added and mixed together. In this case, sodium carbonate dehydride absorbs water in the sodium silicate solution, and it they are mixed for a long time, the sodium carbonate becomes hydrate loses mouldability.

Therefore, mixing is effected with a short period of time, and thereafter the mixture is immediately placed in a mould and press-shaped at a pressure of 30-40 kg/cm2. After shaping, the mould is removed, the shaped body is slowly heated, then it is dried by heating at about 105 C. until it becomes dehydride, and thereby a coating material is obtained: Example 2: light-weight sodium carbonate dehydride 250 parts sodium carbonate hydrate (Na2CO3 10H20) 150 parts zinc stearate 6 parts stainless steel wires (0.4 mm in diameter, 10-50 mm in length) 5 parts powder sodium silicate No. 3 10 parts sodium silicate No. 3 (15% in concentration) 200 parts The method for preparation is almost similar to Example 1 above, in which powder components are preliminarily well mixed, sodium silicate of 15% in concentration and stainless steel wires are added to the above mixture and mixed together, and after the mixture has been pressshaped similarly to Example 1 above, it is dried, and thereby a coating material is obtained: Example 3: pearlite powder 30 parts graphite 50 parts mineral fiber 3 parts sodium silicate (15% in concentration) 17 parts The method for preparation is to mix the solid components excluding sodium silicate under a dry condition and thereafter add sodium silicate. The mixture is then press-moulded at 5 kg/cm2 under a half dry (wet) condition thus to obtain the coating material.

It has been confirmed that the coating material for a sodium piping obtained in the abovedescribed manner has sodium resistance even upon pouring metallic sodium at about 600 C.

onto the surface of the coating material, and it has been also confirmed that penetration of metallic sodium in the direction of thickness of the coating material would not occur. More particularly, the above described coating material according to the present invention has excellent properties that in the atmosphere the coating material does not react with metallic sodium at a high temperature and also it does not react even with burning sodium under oxidation reaction with the atmosphere, and in addition, the general physical properties of the coating material are as follows:: O Appearance white or gray, solid state O Density ........ 300 kg/m3-1000 kg/m3 O Bending strength 3 kg/cm2-20 kg/cm2 O Thermal conduc tivity .. 0.05 Kcal/mh C-0.2 Kcal/mh C O Workability working by means of a saw The present invention relates to a method for coating a sodium piping characterized in that a coating material which does not react with metallic sodium at a high temperature in the atmosphere as described above is used.Owing to the mounting of such a coating material having sodium resistance onto a sodium piping, even in case where metallic sodium at a high temperature should leak out, the situation would be greatly different from the case of employing the conventional heat insulator materials as described above because the metallic sodium at a high temperature would not react with the coating material, and the metallic sodium would not leak out externally of the coating material, that is, to the atmosphere nor would not generate a fire, but if oxygen exists in the gap space between the outer peripheral surface of the sodium piping and the inner peripheral surface of the coating material, then the leaked sodium would burn in that gap space.

This combustion continues until the oxygen in the gap space is consumed out, or it continues as long as the leakage of metallic sodium continues, and the burnt out metallic sodium accumulates as sodium oxide. As described above, since leaked sodium does not react with a coating material nor does not penetrate through a coating material, only metallic sodium itself burns on the inner peripheral surface of the coating material under existence of oxygen, hence apparently no change occurs, and thus there is no fear of causing a fire.In the case where the leaking rate of the leaked sodium is small, merely it is necessitated to mount such type of coating material having sodium resistance onto a sodium piping, but in the case where metallic sodium leaks at a high pressure or the leaking rate is large, the leaked metallic sodium flows along the inclined wall of the piping because it does not react with the coating material.

Accordingly, in the latter case it is desirable to provide a large number of grooves on the inner surface, i.e., the surface contacting with the sodium piping of the coating material so that metallic sodium may easily flow to the bottom portion of the piping from whatever position on the sodium piping metallic sodium may leak out, and to provide a groove serving as a flow path of the leaked sodium on the inner surface of the coating material located at the bottom portion of the piping in the lengthwise direction of the piping. The coating materials are bonded to each other by employing a filler/binder having sodium resistance at the joint portion therebetween (As one example of such a filler/binder, an inorganic sodium-resisting binder having thermal resistance and containing sodium carbonate and sodium silicate as principal components is known).As described above, in the case where a leaking rate of metallic sodium is large or it leaks at a high pressure, owing to the provision of the above described grooves on the inner surface of the coating material, if sodium should leak out of the sodium piping, the leaked sodium would at first make contact with this coating material, and since the coating material does not react with nor does not penetrate sodium, the leaked sodium flows into the groove for use as a flow path at the bottom portion of the piping, where the leaked sodium burns if oxygen exists there, and flows along the inclined piping, and the burnt out sodium accumulates in the form of sodium oxide.

Accordingly, by maintaining an inert gas atmosphere in the neighbourhood of the groove, the combustion of the leaked sodium can be minimized to hold its fluidity, and thereby the leaked sodium can be introduced safely along the inclined piping into a "reservoir" or the like.

However, since it is uneconomical to always maintain an inert gas atmosphere in the neighborhood of the groove, it is desirable to provide an apparatus which can supply an inert gas only when leakage of metallic sodium has occurred by combining with a sodium leak detector.

Moreover, since the temperature of the metallic sodium is about 600to. as described above, thermal expansion of a piping is large and there is a risk that a gap space may arise at the location of a joint between coating materials. In this case, it may possibly occur that the leaked sodium penetrate the coating material through the gap space, and therefore, it is safer to construct the sodium piping so that two or more layers of coating material are provided with the joints of different layers staggered from each other and bonded by means of a filler/binder having sodium resistance.

In addition, in the case where the coating material having sodium resistance has a high density and a large thermal conductivity as described above, since the operating temperature of the sodium piping is about 600 C., in view of the themal resistance an unnecessarily thick coating material is necessitated. Therefore, in such a case, the coating material is combined with a heat insulator material, and they are used as a combined material. In this case also, as a matter of course, at first the coating material having sodium resistance is applied onto the outer surface of the sodium piping and the above-described inorganic heat insulator material is applied onto the outer surface of the coating material. Owing to such a double layer structure, the thickness of the entire coating can be made thin and the coating can be made light in weight.

As the outermost layer, in every case, a sheath is applied by making use of a sheathing material that is conventionally used in a heat insulating work.

Now the method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor by making use of the above described coating material will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view showing one preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-section view of the same taken along line Il-Il in Fig. 1, Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view showing another preferred embodiment of the present invention in which a guide groove is provided on an inner surface of a coating material in the first preferred embodiment shown in Fig. 1, Figure 4 is a cross-section view of the same taken along line IV-IV in Fig. 3, Figure 5 is a schematic perspective view showing still another preferred embodiment of the present invention in which a coating material in the first preferred embodiment in Fig. 1 is formed in double layers, Figure 6 is a cross-section view of the same taken along line VI-VI in Fig. 5, Figure 7 is a schematic perspective view showing yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention in which a coating material in the first preferred embodiment in Fig. 1 is formed in double layers and a guide groove is provided on an inner surface of the inner layer of the coating material.

Figure 8 is a cross-section view of the same taken along line VIII-VIII in Fig. 7, Figures 9, 11, 13 and 15 are schematic perspective views showing further modified embodiments of the present invention in which a heat insulator material is mounted onto the outer periphery of the coating material in the preferred embodiments shown in Figs. 1, 3, 5 and 7, respectively, Figures 10, 12, 14 and 16 are cross-section views of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken along line X-X in Fig. 9, line XII-XII in Fig. 11, line XIV-XIV in Fig. 13 and line XVI-XVI in Fig, 15, respectively.

Figure 17 is a perspective view showing an inner surface configuration of a coating material, Figure 18 is a perspective view showing a different inner surface configuration of a coating material, Figure 19 is a perspective view of the coating material shown in Fig. 11 having a sheath heater mounted thereto, and Figure 20 shows one example of a complete sodium piping system in which a coating material is applied to a sodium piping and further a sodium detector and an innert gas supply piping are associated thereto.

Now the invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the drawings. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 designates a sodium piping, for example, in a fast breeder reactor or the like, and reference numeral 2 designates a coating material having the abovedescribed composition and shaped into longitudinally severed semi-cylindrical pieces. Upon coating the sodium piping 1 with this coating material, the longitudinally severed semicylindrical pieces of the coating material 2 are mounted to the sodium piping 1 in an opposed condition to each other, the joints 2a between the pieces of the coating material 2 are bonded by means of a filler/binder 3 having sodium resistance, and the outside of the coating material pieces is tightly bound by means of a stainless steel wire 4.This coating material 2 is successively mounted to the sodium piping 1 as continued in its lengthwise direction, and after the joints at the opposite ends of the respective pieces of the coating material 2 have been bonded by means of a filler/binder 3, the outer periphery of the coating material 2 is successively sheathed with a tape form or sheet form of sheathing material 5.

In a modified embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a guide groove 6 for leaked metallic sodium is provided on an inner surface of a coating material 2 at a location where the inner surface of the coating material 2 makes contact with a bottom of a sodium piping 1, and in this case the respective pieces of the coating material 2 are successively mounted so that the guide groove 6 may continuously extend along the bottom of the sodium piping 1. According to this preferred embodiment of the invention, in the case where metallic sodium should leak out of the sodium piping 1, the leaked sodium could be safely introduced to a "reservoir" (not shown) provided at a lower position while flowing along the guide groove 6.

In a further modified embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the longitudinally severed semicylindrical pieces of coating material 2 are mounted in double layers, preferrably with the joints 2a between outside semi-cylindrical pieces of the coating material 2 angularly staggered from the joints 2a between inside semi-cylindrical pieces of the coating material 2 and with the joints 2b at the opposite ends of the outside coating material 2 axially staggered from the joints 2b at the opposite ends of the inside coating material 2. Owing to such staggered positioning of the joints of the inside and outside coating materials 2, leakage of metallic sodium through the joints 2a, 2b between the inside semi-cylindrical pieces of coating material 2 can be more positively prevented.

In another modified embodiment shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the coating material 2 is applied to the sodium piping 1 in double layers, and also similarly to the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4 a guide groove 6 is provided on the inner surface of the coating material 2 at a location where the inner surface makes contact with the bottom of the sodium piping 1.

In the preferred embodiments illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8, the sheathing material 5 used therein is a sheathing material similar to that used in the conventional heat insulating work. However, as shown in Figs. 9 to 16, if an inorganic heat insulator material 5a and a tape form or sheet form of sheathing material 5b are used in combination as a composite sheathing material 5, and if the heat insulator material 5a is first mounted onto the outer periphery of the coating material and thereafter the outer periphery of the heat insulator material 5a is sheathed with the tape form or sheet of sheathing material 5b, then the heat insulating effect can be enhanced.

With reference to Fig. 17 which illustrates details of an inner surface configuration of a semicylindrical piece of coating material 2, a plurality of protrusions 7 are formed on the inner surface of the longitudinally severed semi-cylindrical piece of coating material 2, and by means of these protrusions 7 circumferential grooves 8a and longitudinal grooves 8b are formed on the inner surface of the coating material 2, so that leaked metallic sodium may flow along these grooves to be concentrated into a guide groove 6 for metallic sodium provided at the bottom of the inner surface.

Fig. 18 illustrates details of an inner surface configuration of a longitudinally severed semicylindrical piece of coating material 2 that is to be mounted onto an upright portion of a sodium piping, in which inclined grooves 8c are formed on the inner surface of the semi-cylindrical piece so that leaked metallic sodium may flow along the inclined grooves 8c to be concentrated into a guide groove 6.

It is to be noted that the semi-cylindrical pieces of coating material illustrated in Figs. 17 and 18 are mounted onto a sodium piping 1 in the same manner as the preferred embodiments illustrated in Figs. 1 through 16.

In a further modification of semi-cylindrical piece of coating material illustrated in Fig. 19, there is provided a sheath heater 9 for maintaining a temperature of metallic sodium by making use of the grooves 8a and 8b on the inner surface of the coating material 2 shown in Fig. 17 for accommodating the sheath heater 9 therein.

In a complete sodium piping system illustrated in Fig. 20, after a sodium piping 1 has been coated with the coating material 2 according to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, a leak detector 10 for metallic sodium is provided within the guide groove 6 for metallic sodium on the inner surface of the coating material 2 and also an innert gas supply piping 11 is connected to the guide groove 6. Upon operation, leakage of metallic sodium can be detected by the leak detector 10, a control device 12 responds to an output signal from the leak detector 10 for closing a valve 13 located on the upstream side of the sodium piping 1 to prevent metallic sodium from leaking over a long period, and for simultaneously opening a supply valve 14 for an inert gas to supply the inert gas into the guide groove 6.Consequently, the leaked metallic sodium can be safely introduced into a reservoir 15 located at a lower position while flowing along the guide groove 6.

Although the coating material was shaped into longitudinally severed semi-cylindrical pieces in the above-described embodiments, as a matter of course the present invention should not be limited to this particular shape of coating material pieces, but the sodium piping can be coated with coating material pieces having a shape of 3-severed or 4-severed cylinders depending upon the diameter of the sodium piping.

As described above, according to the present invention, since a coating material having sodium resistance is applied to a sodium piping, even if metalic sodium at a high temperature should leak out of the sodium piping, as distinguished from the heretofore known sodium piping system in which the conventional heat insulating material is used, the leaked sodium would not react with the coating material nor would not penetrate through the coating material. Therefore, the method for coating according to the present invention is essentially necessary for coating a sodium piping without the risk of generating a fire or exposing leaked sodium to the atmosphere.

Since many changes could be made in the above construction and apparently widely different embodiments of the present invention could be practiced by those skilled in the art, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not as limitation to the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for coating a sodium piping, in which a coating material prepared by adding a caking agent having sodium resistance to a raw material having sodium resistance and pressshaping the mixture, is coated on a sodium piping, and then a sheathing material is sheathed on the outer periphery of the coating material.

2. A method for coating a sodium piping as claimed in Claim 1, in which said coating material is preliminarily shaped into a plurality of longitudinally severed cylinder pieces, and said longitudinally severed cylinder pieces of coating material are mounted onto the sodium piping successively in the circumferential direction to coat the sodium piping.

3. A method for coating a sodium piping as claimed in Claim 2, in which joints between the longitudinally severed cylinder pieces of coating material mounted onto the sodium piping successively in the circumferential direction are bonded by means of a filler/binder having sodium resistance, then the outer periphery of the coating material is tightly bound by means of a stainless steel wire, and thereby the sodium piping can be coated with said coating material.

4. A method for coating a sodium piping as claimed in Claim 1, in which said coating material is shaped into a plurality of longitudinally severed cylinder pieces so that coating material may consist of a plurality of layers in the radial direction of the sodium piping and each said layer may consist of a plurality of sectors in the circumferential direction, and after the coating material pieces of the inside layer have been mounted onto the sodium piping successively in the circumferential direction, the coating material pieces of the outside layer are mounted onto the outer periphery of the inside coating layer successively in the circumferential direction, and thereby the sodium piping can be coated with the plurality of layers of coating material.

6. A method for coating a sodium piping as claimed in Claim 2, in which a guide groove for metallic sodium is provided in the axial direction on the inner surface of the coating material at the location where said inner surface makes contact with the bottom of said sodium piping, and also additional guide grooves for introducing leaked metallic sodium to first said guide groove are provided on the inner surface of the coating material.

7. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor, in which a coating material prepared by mixing alkali metal salt having sodium resistance and silicate or phosphate under a wet condition, press-shaping said mixture and thereafter drying the shaped mixture, is coated on a sodium piping, and then a sheathing material is sheathed on the outer periphery of the coating material.

8. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor as claimed in Claim 7, in which said coating material comprises 50 to 70 weight % of sodium carbonate and 30 to 50 weight % of silicate.

9. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor as claimed in Claim 7, in which said coating material is preliminarily shaped into a plurality of longitudinally severed cylinder pieces, and said longitudinally severed cylinder pieces of coating material are mounted onto the sodium piping successively in the circumferential direction to coat the sodium piping.

10. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor as claimed in Claim 8, in which joints between the longitudinally severed cylinder pieces of coating material mounted onto the sodium piping successively in the circumferential direction are bonded by means of a filler/binder having sodium resistance, then the outer periphery of the coating material is tightly bound by means of a stainless steel wire, and thereby the sodium piping can be coated with said coating material.

11. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor as claimed in Claim 7, in which said coating material is shaped into a plurality of longitudinally severed cylinder pieces so that said coating material may consist of a plurality of layers in the radial direction of the sodium piping and each said layer may consist of a plurality of sectors in the circumferential direction, and after the coating material pieces of the inside layer have been mounted onto the sodium piping successively in the circumferential direction, the coating material pieces of the outside layer are mounted onto the outer periphery of the inside coating layer successively in the circumferential direction, and thereby the sodium piping can be coated with the plurality of layers of coating material.

12. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor as claimed in Claim 9, in which a guide groove for metallic sodium is provided in the axial direction on the inner surface of the coating material at the location where said inner surface makes contact with the bottom of said sodium piping.

13. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor as claimed in Claim 9, in which a guide groove for metallic sodium is provided in the axial direction on the inner surface of the coating material at the location where said inner surface makes contact with the bottom of said sodium piping, and also additional guide grooves for introducing leaked metallic sodium to first said guide groove are provided on the inner surface of the coating material.

14. A method for coating a sodium piping, in which a coating material prepared by adding a caking agent having sodium resistance to a raw material having sodium resistance, pressshaping the mixture and forming a guide groove for metallic sodium on its inner surface, is coated on a sodium piping, then a sheathing material is sheathed on the outer periphery of the coating material, a metallic sodium detector is disposed in the guide groove formed on the inner surface of said coating material, an inert gas supply piping is connected to said guide groove, and said detector and said innert gas supply piping are coupled to a control device.

15. A method for coating a sodium piping as claimed in Claim 14, in which said coating material is preliminarily shaped into a plurality of longitudinally severed cylinder pieces which are coated on said sodium pipiing, and said guide groove formed on the inner surface of the coating material is positioned at the bottom of said sodium piping.

16. A method for coating a sodium piping as claimed in Claim 15, in which said coating material is prepared by mixing alkali metal salt having sodium resistance and silicate or phosphate under a wet condition, press-shaping said mixture, and thereafter drying the shaped mixture.

17. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor, in which a coating material prepared by mixing a raw material havin#g sodium resistance, inorganic light weight aggregate and inorganic caking agent under a wet condition, press-shaping said mixture and thereafter drying the shaped mixture, is coated on a sodium piping, and then a sheathing material is sheathed on the outer periphery of the coating material.

18. A method for coating a sodium piping in a fast breeder reactor as claimed in Claim 17, in which said coating material comprises 20 to 40 weight % of graphite is used as said raw material having sodium resistance, 40 to 60 weight % of pearlite powder is used as said inorganic light weight aggregate, and 10 to 20 weight % of silicate is used as said inorganic caking agent.

19. A method of coating sodium piping for fast breeder reactors substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2; Figs. 3 and 4; Figs. 5 and 6, Figs. 7 and 8, Figs. 9 and 10, Figs. 11 and 12; Figs. 13 and 14; Figs. 15 and 16; Fig. 17; Fig. 18; Fig. 19; or Fig. 20 of the accompanying drawings.

20. A method of coating sodium piping for fast breeder reactors substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Examples 1, 2 or 3.

21. Sodium piping coated in accordance with any one of the preceding claims.

22. A fast breeder reactor including sodium piping as in Claim 21.