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Analysis of SMART reactor core with uranium mononitride for prolonged fuel cycle using OpenMC

  • Yahya A. Al-Zahrani , Khurram Mehboob ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Tariq F. Alshahrani , Fouad A. Abolaban and Hannan Younis
Published/Copyright: February 14, 2022
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Kerntechnik
From the journal Kerntechnik Volume 87 Issue 1

Abstract

The neutronics performance and safety characteristics of Uranium mononitride (UN) fuel for System-Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor (SMART) has been investigated to discern the potential for non-proliferation, waste, and accident tolerance benefits of UN fuel. The neutronic evaluation of UN fuel for SMART reactor has been carried out under normal operation using OpenMC and compared with Uranium dioxide (UO2) in terms of fuel cycle length, reactivity coefficients, Fuel depletion (burnup), thermal flux, and fission product activity. The power peaking factor (PPF) has been compared at the beginning of the fuel cycle (BOC), mid of the fuel cycle (MOC), and at the end of the fuel cycle (EOC). Results indicate that the UN fuel can be operated beyond the designed fuel cycle length of the SMART reactor, which induces the positive reactivity at the end of the fuel cycle of about 4625 pcm. However, the UO2 showed negative reactivity after three years. The total fission product activity at the end of the fuel cycle (3.5 years) for UO2 and UN has been founded 1.003 × 1020 Bq and 1.023 × 1020 Bq, respectively.

Keywords: fuel cycle; reactor core; SMART; uranium dioxide; uranium mononitride
Corresponding author: Khurram Mehboob, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), P. O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; and Department of Nuclear Engineering, K.A. CARE Energy Research and Innovation Center, King Abdulaziz University, 21589 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, E-mail:

Funding source: King Abdulaziz University http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004054

Award Identifier / Grant number: RG-88-135-42

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: The Authors acknowledge the support provided by King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A. CARE) under K.A. CARE-King Abdulaziz University Collaboration Program. The authors are also thankful to Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant no. RG-88-135-42. The authors, therefore, gratefully acknowledge DSR technical and financial support.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2021-06-02
Published Online: 2022-02-14
Published in Print: 2022-02-23

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Single-phase flow heat transfer characteristics in helically coiled tube heat exchangers
  3. Design and optimization of an integrated gamma ray scanning system for the uranium sample
  4. Numerical simulation of the effect of rod bowing on critical heat flux
  5. Flow and heat transfer characteristics of a nanofluid as the coolant in a typical MTR core
  6. Mathematical modeling of point kinetic equations with temperature feedback for reactivity transient analysis in MTR
  7. An enhanced formalism for the inverse reactor kinetics problem
  8. The establishment of analysis methodology of NRCDose3 for Kuosheng nuclear power plant decommissioning
  9. Analysis of SMART reactor core with uranium mononitride for prolonged fuel cycle using OpenMC
  10. Conceptual design of an innovative I&XC fuel assembly for a SMR based on neutronic/thermal-hydraulic calculations at the BOC
  11. Optimized fractional-order PID controller based on nonlinear point kinetic model for VVER-1000 reactor
  12. High rate X-ray radiation shielding ability of cement-based composites incorporating strontium sulfate (SrSO4) minerals
  13. Vibration analysis for predictive maintenance and improved reliability of rotating machines in ETRR-2 research reactor
  14. Calendar of events
https://doi.org/10.1515/kern-2021-1000
Keywords for this article
fuel cycle; reactor core; SMART; uranium dioxide; uranium mononitride

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Single-phase flow heat transfer characteristics in helically coiled tube heat exchangers
  3. Design and optimization of an integrated gamma ray scanning system for the uranium sample
  4. Numerical simulation of the effect of rod bowing on critical heat flux
  5. Flow and heat transfer characteristics of a nanofluid as the coolant in a typical MTR core
  6. Mathematical modeling of point kinetic equations with temperature feedback for reactivity transient analysis in MTR
  7. An enhanced formalism for the inverse reactor kinetics problem
  8. The establishment of analysis methodology of NRCDose3 for Kuosheng nuclear power plant decommissioning
  9. Analysis of SMART reactor core with uranium mononitride for prolonged fuel cycle using OpenMC
  10. Conceptual design of an innovative I&XC fuel assembly for a SMR based on neutronic/thermal-hydraulic calculations at the BOC
  11. Optimized fractional-order PID controller based on nonlinear point kinetic model for VVER-1000 reactor
  12. High rate X-ray radiation shielding ability of cement-based composites incorporating strontium sulfate (SrSO4) minerals
  13. Vibration analysis for predictive maintenance and improved reliability of rotating machines in ETRR-2 research reactor
  14. Calendar of events
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