Design Concept of the High Performance Light Water Reactor
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T. Schulenburg
Abstract
The “High Performance Light Water Reactor” (HPLWR) is a Light Water Reactor operating with supercritical water as coolant. At a pressure of 25 MPa in the core, water is heated up from 280 to 500 °C. For these conditions, the envisaged net plant efficiency is 43.5 %. The core design concept is based on a so-called “3-pass-core” in which the coolant is heated up in three subsequent steps. After each step, the coolant is mixed avoiding hot streaks possibly leading to unacceptable wall temperatures. The design of such a core comprises fuel assemblies containing 40 fuel rods and an inner and outer box for a better neutron moderation. Nine of these are assembled to a cluster with common head- and foot piece. The coolant is mixed inside an upper and inside a lower mixing chamber and leaves the reactor pressure vessel through a co-axial pipe, which protects the vessel wall against too high temperatures.
Kurzfassung
Der „High Performance Light Water Reactor“ (HPLWR) ist ein Leichtwasserreaktor mit überkritischem Wasser als Kühlmittel. Bei einem Druck von 25 MPa wird in seinem Kern Wasser von 280 auf 500 °C aufgeheizt. Der bei diesen Dampfparametern erwartete Kraftwerkswirkungsgrad liegt bei 43,5 %. Das Kerndesignkonzept des HPLWR besteht aus einem “3-Pass-Kern“, das bedeutet, dass das Kühlmittel schrittweise in 3 Stufen aufgeheizt wird, wobei nach einer Aufheizstufe eine Durchmischung heiße Strähnen verhindert, die zu unzulässig hohen Wandtemperaturen führen könnten. Die konstruktive Ausführung dieses Konzepts besteht aus Brennelementen mit 40 Stäben mit einem äußeren und einem innen Wasserkasten zur besseren neutronischen Moderation. Neun dieser Brennelemente sind in einem Cluster mit gemeinsamem Kopf- und Fußstück zusammengefasst. Das Kühlmittel wird in einem oberen und einem unteren Plenum gemischt und verlässt den Reaktordruckbehälter durch eine koaxiale Dampfleitung, die die Wand vor zu hohen Temperaturen schützt.
References
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© 2009, Carl Hanser Verlag, München
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- AVR prototype pebble bed reactor: a safety re-evaluation of its operation and consequences for future reactors
- Design Concept of the High Performance Light Water Reactor
- Behavior of CANDU fuel under power pulse conditions at the TRIGA reactor of INR Pitesti
- Plate heat exchanger – inertia flywheel performance in loss of flow transient
- Performance analyses of the communication networks of a modern supervision and control system of research reactors
- Thermal analytical model for MoO3 ampoules irradiated in a high neutron flux
- Effect of using various grades of plutonium in the protective liquid wall of an IFE type fusion reactor
- A discrete ordinates scheme for void fraction evaluation with nonstandard reflective conditions and weakly divergent beams
- Application of the Laplace transform method for the albedo boundary conditions in multigroup neutron diffusion eigenvalue problems in slab geometry
- Modified Chebyshev polynomial (UN) approximation in the neutron transport theory and computation of critical half thicknesses
- Optimizing the dynamic response of the H. B. Robinson nuclear plant using multiobjective particle swarm optimization
- Assessment for inside building dispersion of aerosol from an outdoor radiological release
- Technical Notes/Technische Mitteilungen
- Analysis of a steam generator tube rupture under realistic initial and boundary conditions
Articles in the same Issue
- Contents/Inhalt
- Contents
- Summaries/Kurzfassungen
- Summaries
- Technical Contributions/Fachbeiträge
- AVR prototype pebble bed reactor: a safety re-evaluation of its operation and consequences for future reactors
- Design Concept of the High Performance Light Water Reactor
- Behavior of CANDU fuel under power pulse conditions at the TRIGA reactor of INR Pitesti
- Plate heat exchanger – inertia flywheel performance in loss of flow transient
- Performance analyses of the communication networks of a modern supervision and control system of research reactors
- Thermal analytical model for MoO3 ampoules irradiated in a high neutron flux
- Effect of using various grades of plutonium in the protective liquid wall of an IFE type fusion reactor
- A discrete ordinates scheme for void fraction evaluation with nonstandard reflective conditions and weakly divergent beams
- Application of the Laplace transform method for the albedo boundary conditions in multigroup neutron diffusion eigenvalue problems in slab geometry
- Modified Chebyshev polynomial (UN) approximation in the neutron transport theory and computation of critical half thicknesses
- Optimizing the dynamic response of the H. B. Robinson nuclear plant using multiobjective particle swarm optimization
- Assessment for inside building dispersion of aerosol from an outdoor radiological release
- Technical Notes/Technische Mitteilungen
- Analysis of a steam generator tube rupture under realistic initial and boundary conditions
