scholarly journals Neutronic Analysis on Potential Accident Tolerant Fuel-Cladding Combination U3Si2-FeCrAl

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengli Chen ◽  
Cenxi Yuan

Neutronic performance is investigated for a potential accident tolerant fuel (ATF), which consists of U3Si2fuel and FeCrAl cladding. In comparison with current UO2-Zr system, FeCrAl has a better oxidation resistance but a larger thermal neutron absorption cross section. U3Si2has a higher thermal conductivity and a higher uranium density, which can compensate the reactivity suppressed by FeCrAl. Based on neutronic investigations, a possible U3Si2-FeCrAl fuel-cladding system is taken into consideration. Fundamental properties of the suggested fuel-cladding combination are investigated in a fuel assembly. These properties include moderator and fuel temperature coefficients, control rods worth, radial power distribution (in a fuel rod), and different void reactivity coefficients. The present work proves that the new combination has less reactivity variation during its service lifetime. Although, compared with the current system, it has a little larger deviation on power distribution and a little less negative temperature coefficient and void reactivity coefficient and its control rods worth is less important, variations of these parameters are less important during the service lifetime of fuel. Hence, U3Si2-FeCrAl system is a potential ATF candidate from a neutronic view.

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuhair Zuhair ◽  
Suwoto Suwoto

Dalam high temperature reactor, koefisien reaktivitas temperatur yang didesain negatif menjamin reaksi fisi dalam teras tetap berada di bawah kendali dan panas peluruhan tidak akan pernah melelehkan bahan bakar yang menyebabkan terlepasnya zat radioaktif ke lingkungan. Namun masuknya air (water ingress) ke dalam teras reaktor akibat pecahnya tabung penukar panas generator uap, yang dikenal sebagai salah satu kecelakaan dasar desain, dapat mengintroduksi reaktivitas positif dengan potensi bahaya lainnya seperti korosi grafit dan kerusakan material struktur reflektor. Makalah ini akan menganalisis efek kecelakaan water ingress terhadap reaktivitas Doppler teras RGTT200K. Kapabilitas koefisien reaktivitas Doppler untuk mengkompensasi reaktivitas positif yang timbul selama kecelakaan water ingress akan diuji melalui serangkaian perhitungan dengan program MCNPX dan pustaka ENDF/B-VII untuk perubahan temperatur bahan bakar dari 800K hingga 1800K. Tiga opsi kernel bahan bakar UO2, ThO2/UO2 dan PuO2 dengan tiga model kisi bahan bakar pebble di teras reaktor diterapkan untuk kondisi water ingress dengan densitas air dari 0 hingga 1.000 kg/m3. Hasil perhitungan memperlihatkan koefisien reaktivitas Doppler tetap negatif untuk seluruh opsi bahan bakar yang dipertimbangkan bahkan untuk posibilitas water ingress yang besar. Efek water ingress lebih kuat pada model kisi dengan fraksi packing lebih rendah karena lebih banyak volume yang tersedia untuk air yang memasuki teras reaktor. Efek water ingress juga lebih kuat di teras uranium dibandingkan teras thorium dan plutonium sebagai konsekuensi dari fenomena Doppler dimana absorpsi neutron di daerah resonansi 238U lebih besar daripada 232Th dan 240Pu. Secara keseluruhan dapat disimpulkan bahwa, koefisien Doppler teras RGTT200K mampu mengkompensasi insersi reaktivitas yang diintroduksi oleh kecelakaan water ingress. Teras RGTT200K dengan bahan bakar UO2, ThO2/UO2 dan PuO2 dapat mempertahankan fitur keselamatan melekat dengan cara pasif. Kata kunci: Water ingress, reaktivitas Doppler, RGTT200K   In high temperature reactor, the negative temperature reactivity coefficient guarantees fission reaction in the core remain under the control and decay heat will not melt the fuel which cause the release of radioactive substances into the environment. But the entry of water (water ingress) into the reactor core due to rupture of a steam generator tube heat exchanger, which is known as one of the design basis accidents, can introduce positive reactivity with other potential hazards such as graphite corrosion and damage of the reflector structure material. This paper will investigate the effect of water ingress accident on Doppler reactivity coefficient of RGTT200K core. The capability of the Doppler reactivity coefficient to compensate positive reactivity incurred during water ingress accident will be examined through a series of calculations with MCNPX code and ENDF/B-VII library for fuel temperature changes from 800K to 1800K. Three options of UO2, ThO2/UO2 and PuO2 fuel kernels with three lattice models of fuel pebble in the reactor core was applied for condition of water ingress with water density from 0 to 1000 kg/m3. The results of the calculations show that Doppler reactivity coefficient is negative for the entire fuel options being considered even for a large possibility of water ingress. The effects of water ingress becomes stronger in lattice model with lower packing fraction because more volume available for water entering the reactor core. The effect of water ingress is also stronger in the uranium core compared to thorium and plutonium cores as a consequence of the Doppler phenomenon where the neutron absorption in resonance region of 238U is greater than 232Th and 240Pu. It can be concluded overall that Doppler coefficient of RGTT200K core has capability to compensate the reactivity insertion introduced by water ingress accident. RGTT200K core with UO2, ThO2/UO2 and PuO2 fuels can maintain the inherently safety features in a passive way. Keywords: Water ingress, Doppler reactivity, RGTT200K


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayed Mustafa

Abstract In this work, SiC (Silicon carbide), FeCrAl (ferritic), SS-310 (stainless steel 310) and Zirconium are simulated by MCNPX code as cladding materials in advanced PWR assembly. A number of reactor safety parameters are evaluated for the candidate cladding materials as reactivity, cycle length, radial power distribution of fuel pellet, reactivity coefficients, spectral hardening, peaking factor, thermal neutron fraction and delayed neutron fraction. The neutron economy presented by Zr and SiC models is analyzed through the burnup calculations on the unit cell and assembly levels. The study also provided the geometric conditions of all cladding materials under consideration in terms of the relation between fuel enrichment and cladding thickness from the viewpoint to achieve the same discharge burnup as the Zircaloy cladding. It was found that the SiC model participated in extending the life cycle by 2.23% compared to Zr. The materials other than SiC largely decreased discharge burnup in comparison with Zircaloy. Furthermore, the claddings with lower capture cross-sections (SiC and Zr) exhibit higher relative fission power at the pellet periphery. The simulation also showed that using SiC with a thickness of 571.15 µm and 4.83% U-235 can satisfy the EOL irradiation value as Zr. For reactivity coefficient, the higher absorbing materials (SS-310 and FeCrAl) exhibit more negative FTCs, MTCs and VRCs at the BOL But, at the intermediate stages of burnup Zr and SiC have a strong trend of negative reactivity coefficients. Finally, the delayed neutron fraction of SiC and Zr models is the highest among all the four models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
V. I. Borysenko ◽  
◽  
V. V. Goranchuk ◽  

The article presents the results of modeling of the reactivity accident, which resulted in the destruction of reactor RBMK-1000 of the 4th power unit of the Chornobyl NPP on April 26, 1986. The RBMK-1000 reactivity accident model was developed on the basis of the kinetics of the nuclear reactor, taking into account the change in the reactivity of the reactor. Reactivity changes as a result of both external influence (movement of control rods; change in the reactor inlet coolant temperature (density)) and due to the action of reactivity feedback by the parameters of the reactor core (change in the fuel temperature, coolant temperature, concentration of 135Хе, graphite stack temperature, etc.). A similar approach was applied by the authors of the article for the study of transient processes with the operation of accelerated unit unloading mode on VVER-1000, and the validity of such model is confirmed. The study of the reactivity accident on RBMK-1000 was carried out for various combinations of values of the effectiveness of control rods; reactivity coefficients of the coolant temperature and fuel temperature; changes in the temperature of the coolant at the inlet to the reactor. In most of the studied RBMK-1000 reactor accident scenarios, the critical values of fuel enthalpy, at which the process of fuel destruction begins, are reached first. An important result of the research is the conclusion that it is not necessary to reach supercriticality on instantaneous neutrons, supercriticality on delayed neutrons is also sufficient to initiate fuel destruction.


Author(s):  
Surian Pinem ◽  
Tukiran Surbakti ◽  
Iman Kuntoro

NEUTRONIC AND THERMAL HYDRAULICS ANALYSIS OF CONTROL ROD EFFECT ON THE OPERATION SAFETY OF TRIGA 2000 REACTOR. Analysis of neutronic and thermal-hydraulics parameters of whole operation cycle is very important for the safety of reactor operation. During the reactor operation cycle, the position of the control rods will change due to reactivity changes. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of control rods position on neutronic and thermal-hydraulics parameters in relation to the safety of reactor operation of the TRIGA 2000 reactor using silicide fuel of MTR plate type. Those parameters are power peaking factor, reactivity coefficients, and steady-state thermohydraulic parameters. Neutronic calculations are performed using a combination of WIMSD/5 and Batan-3DIFF codes and for thermal-hydraulics the calculations are done using WIMSD/5 and MTRDYN codes. The calculation results show that the reactivity coefficient values are negative for all control rod positions both at CZP and HFP conditions. The MTC value decreases when the control rod is inserted into the active core while the FTC value increases. The total ppf results and temperature in steady-state rise when the control rods are inserted of into the active core whereby the maximum value occurs at the position of the control rods of 20 cm from the bottom of the active core. The calculation results of ppf, reactivity coefficient, and thermal-hydraulics parameters lay below safety limits, indicating that the TRIGA 2000 reactor can safely use U3Si2-Al silicide fuel as a substitute fuel for cylindrical type fuel.Keywords: neutronic, thermal-hydraulic parameter, control rod effect, TRIGA 2000, silicide fuel.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 01037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maciej Kozak

The paper presents the background and results of numerical simulation and experimental research of a system using auctioneering diodes used to distribute the electrical power between two power converters connected with intermediate circuits in parallel, direct connection. Presented non-isolated power distribution system which utilizes blocking diodes placed in DC branches are used in the selected ship's electrical systems, however, they create problems related to control and handling ground faults. Another issue occurring during the operation of this type of systems is increased heat dissipation while diodes switching. Selected problems related to the operation of experimental system have been identified by means of simulation studies and experiments carried out in a 11 kVA laboratory system and the theoretical basis along with results are provided in the article.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Yang ◽  
Lun Zhou ◽  
Junrong Qiu ◽  
Yun Tai

Abstract Three dimensional PWR-core analysis code CORAL is developed by Wuhan Second Ship Design and Research Institute. This code provides basic functions including three-dimensional power distribution, fine power reconstruction, fuel temperature distribution, critical search, control rod worth, reactivity coefficients, burnup and nuclide density distribution, etc. CORAL employ nodal expansion method to solve neutron diffusion equation, and the least square method is used to achieve few group constants, and sub-channel model and one-dimensional heat transfer is used to calculate fuel temperature and coolant density distribution, and burnup distribution and nuclide nuclear density could be obtained by solving macro-depletion and micro-depletion equation. The CORAL code is convenient to update and maintain in consider of modular, object-oriented programming technology. In order to analyze the computational accuracy of the CORAL code in small PWR-core and its capability to deal with heterogeneous, calculation analysis are carried out based on the material and geometry parameters of the SMART core. The core has 57 fuel assemblies, with 8, 20 or 24 gadolinium rods arranged in the fuel assemblies. In this paper, a quantitative comparison and analysis of the small PWR problem calculation results are carried out. Numerical results, including effective multiplication factor, assembly power distribution and pin power distribution, all agree well with the calculation results of OpenMC or Bamboo at both hot zero-power (HZP) and hot full-power (HFP) conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 724
Author(s):  
Syazwani Mohd Fadzil ◽  
Shafi Qureshi ◽  
Sekhar Basu ◽  
K. Kasturirangan ◽  
Anil Kakodkar ◽  
...  

Here, safer nuclear fuels which can sustain in the high temperature and fluence environment of the reactor core are investigated to utilize nuclear energy peacefully. At Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad, nuclear fuels are being manufactured which are best suited for high temperature and fluence environment of the reactor core even in accidental scenarios. In this paper, nuclear fuels manufactured at NFC, Hyderabad are presented. The developed nuclear fuels have higher equivalent hydraulic diameter and breeding capability to produce U^233. Nuclear fuels having higher equivalent hydraulic diameter reduce the reactor core temperature substantially. These fuels have negative temperature coefficient of reactivity. Thus, in case of an accident, the fuel temperature never exceeds the safety limit. Therefore, the thermal heat available across the secondary of a heat exchanger can be utilized for different industrial processes. This allows the development of key technologies, such as safer co-generation of electricity and Hydrogen. The Three-Stage Indian Nuclear Power Program has been explained for nuclear disarmament. The product Hydrogen gas has been utilized in many ways for different applications. Moreover, the processing of iron ore with the energy obtained from the IHX secondary side, eliminates the burning of coals and CO2 emissions into the environment. Several radioisotopes have been developed for medical applications from spent fuel.  


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (39) ◽  
pp. 1850233
Author(s):  
Md. Mehedi Hassan ◽  
K. M. Jalal Uddin Rumi ◽  
Md. Nazrul Islam Khan ◽  
Rajib Goswami

In this work, control rod worth, xenon (Xe) effect on reactivity and power defect have been measured by doing experiments in the BAEC TRIGA Mark-II research reactor (BTRR) and through established theoretical analysis. Firstly, to study the xenon-135 effect on reactivity, reactor is critical at 2.4 MW for several hours. Next, experiments have been performed at very low power (50 W) to avoid temperature effects. Moreover, for the power defect experiment, different increasing power level has been tested by withdrawing the control rods. Finally, it is concluded that the total control rods worth of the BAEC TRIGA Mark-II research reactor, as determined through this study, is enough to run the reactor at full power (3 MW) considering the xenon-135 and fuel temperature effects.


Author(s):  
Bin Zhong ◽  
Kan Wang ◽  
Ganglin Yu

The core flux (power) distribution is very important to safe and economical operation of nuclear reactor. It can be obtained by many methods depending on the desired accuracy and execution time. For on-line core surveillance and regulation, we need to get the real-time flux distribution. If the true local parameters such as fuel temperature, coolant temperature and material density were known, the solution of the diffusion equation with instantaneous parameters could, in principle, provide the necessary spatial details. However, in reality, it is impossible to obtain the operational “readings” of these parameters for each fuel cell. The detector results at certain locations can be applied to improve the results of the only diffusion calculations by Flux Mapping methods. Function expansion method is employed to express the approximate real distribution by the combination of several Flux Mapping method results as the expansion basis functions. The Harmonics Synthesis Method (HSM) and Least-Square method are combined to get a new Flux Mapping method in this paper. The simulation results show that the new method can be used for Flux Mapping and get better results.


2012 ◽  
Vol 260-261 ◽  
pp. 362-367
Author(s):  
Jian Bin Ye

Quantities of application systems with no unified model and interface standard exist in power distribution and consumption, which restricts intensive operation and management of electric power enterprise. Based on “Integration Study on Intelligence Power Distribution and Consumption Park Technology” (project number: 2011AA05A117) in 863 national scientific and technological project in 2011, the paper first analyzes characteristics of power distribution and consumption system and problems of current system integration method, then proposes a new integration and implementation method that is suitable for power distribution and consumption system, which gives practice principles for system integration of power distribution and consumption.


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