Home Conceptual design of an innovative I&XC fuel assembly for a SMR based on neutronic/thermal-hydraulic calculations at the BOC
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Conceptual design of an innovative I&XC fuel assembly for a SMR based on neutronic/thermal-hydraulic calculations at the BOC

  • Hossein Zayermohammadi Rishehri ORCID logo and Majid Zaidabadi Nejad EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: February 14, 2022
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

Power upgrade in nuclear reactors has been identified as one of the least costly options. This article focuses on how to further increase the thermal power and the possibility of using internally and externally cooled (I&EC) fuels instead of the solid fuels in the core of a Small Modular Reactor (SMR). In hence, The NuScale is chosen as the reference SMR. The core of NuScale is designed based on the use of a new 12 × 12 I&EC fuel assembly. This study is conducted throughout neutronic/thermal-hydraulic analysis. And many essential neutronic and thermal-hydraulic parameters such as variations of effective multiplication factor as a function of the pitch, neutron flux, power peaking factors, DNBRs and maximum temperature of the fuel were obtained. As one of the most important results of the analysis, I&EC fuel shows a sufficient margin available on DNBR and fuel pellet temperature compared with cylindrical solid fuel. The margin amount seems accommodating a 183% power-uprate seems viable. Also, the fuels axial temperature at different power levels were analyzed, and it was found that the proposed fuel at high power levels has a low peak temperature.


Corresponding author: Majid Zaidabadi Nejad, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Modern Technologies, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Haftbagh St, Postal Code: 7631818356, Kerman, Iran, E-mail:

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

  2. Research funding: None declared.

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

References

Ansarifar, G.R., Esteki, M.H., and Zaidabadi, M. (2016). Investigation of the I&EC fuel effect on the thermal power uprate in a VVER-1000 nuclear reactor. Nucl. Technol. 195: 105–109, https://doi.org/10.13182/nt15-90.Search in Google Scholar

Donnelly, J. (1986). WIMS-CRNL: a user’s manual for the Chalk River version of WIMS. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River, Ontario.Search in Google Scholar

El-Wakil, M.M. (1971). Nuclear heat transport. American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, Illinois.Search in Google Scholar

Fluent Inc. (2013). ANSYS FLUENT theory guide 15.0. ANSYS, Canonsburg.Search in Google Scholar

Fowler, T. and Vondy, D. (1969). Nuclear reactor core analysis code: CITATION. Oak Ridge National Lab, Tenn.Search in Google Scholar

Hejzlar, P., Driscoll, M.J., and Kazimi, M.S. (2001). High performance annular fuel for pressurized water reactors. Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc. 84: 192.Search in Google Scholar

Hejzlar, P. and Kazimi, M.S. (2007). Annular fuel for high power density PWRs: motivation and overview. Nucl. Technol. 160: 2–15, https://doi.org/10.13182/nt160-2-15.Search in Google Scholar

IAEA. (2018). Advances in small modular reactor technology developments. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.Search in Google Scholar

Ingersoll, D.T. (2009). Deliberately small reactors and the second nuclear era. Prog. Nucl. Energy 51: 589–603, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2009.01.003.Search in Google Scholar

IAEA. (2012). Status of small and medium sized reactor designs. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.Search in Google Scholar

Kazimi, M.S. (2006). High performance fuel design for next generation PWRs. Final Report. MIT-NFC-PR-082, Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, MIT.Search in Google Scholar

Lamarsh, T.R. (2001). Introduction to nuclear engineering. Prentice-Hall, Inc, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.Search in Google Scholar

Locatelli, G. and Mignacca, B. (2020). Small modular nuclear reactors. In: Future energy. Woodhead Publishing, Sawston, pp. 151–169.10.1016/B978-0-08-102886-5.00008-6Search in Google Scholar

Na, M.G., Shin, S.H., Lee, S.M., Jung, D.W., Lee, K., and Lee, Y.J. (2004). Estimation of axial DNBR distribution at the hot pin position of a reactor core using fuzzy neural networks. J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 41: 817–826, https://doi.org/10.1080/18811248.2004.9715551.Search in Google Scholar

NuScale Power LLC. (2007). SMR nuclear technology, Available at: <http://www.nuscalepower.com/>.Search in Google Scholar

NuScale Power LLC. (2016). NuScale standard plant design certification application. US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville, Maryland.Search in Google Scholar

Ravnik, M. (1990). Nuclear safety parameters of mixed TRIGA cores. Proceedings of the workshop on reactor physics calculations for applications in nuclear technology. Trieste.10.1142/9789814439398_0012Search in Google Scholar

Reyes, J.N.Jr. (2012). NuScale plant safety in response to extreme events. Nucl. Technol. 178: 153–163, https://doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A13556.Search in Google Scholar

Sadegh-Noedoost, A., Faghihi, F., Fakhraei, A., and Amin-Mozafari, M. (2020). Investigations of the fresh-core cycle-length and the average fuel depletion analysis of the NuScale core. Ann. Nucl. Energy 136: 106995, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.106995.Search in Google Scholar

Wilcox, D.C. (1998). Turbulence modeling for CFD. La Canada, CA: DCW Industries.Search in Google Scholar

Zaidabadia, M., Ansarifar, G.R., and Esteki, M.H. (2017). Thermal hydraulic analysis of VVER-1000 nuclear reactor with I&EC fuel using K–xSST turbulence model. Ann. Nucl. Energy 101: 118–127, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2016.09.027.Search in Google Scholar

Zaidabadi Nejad, M. and Ansarifar, G.R. (2020a). Design of a small modular nuclear reactor with dual cooled annular fuel and investigation of the fuel inner radius effect on the power peaking factor and natural circulation parameters. Ann. Nucl. Energy 138: 107185, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.107185.Search in Google Scholar

Zaidabadi Nejad, M. and Ansarifar, G.R. (2020b). Optimal design of a small modular reactor core with dual cooled annular fuel based on the neutronics and natural circulation parameters. Nucl. Eng. Des. 360: 110518, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2020.110518.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2021-07-25
Published Online: 2022-02-14
Published in Print: 2022-02-23

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 15.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/kern-2021-1012/html
Scroll to top button