先进非能动压水堆核电站燃料组件轴向燃耗分布研究

燃料组件的轴向燃耗分布以及末端效应是燃耗信任制技术应用中的难点。基于先进非能动压水堆核电站的运行模式及组件设计特点,结合可能的燃料管理策略,统计轴向两端使用低富集度抑制区的乏燃料组件,生成轴向燃耗包络线。以AP1000堆型的乏燃料贮存单元为例,通过分析统计,证明生成的轴向燃耗包络线用于临界安全分析是保守的。在此基础上,详细研究燃料组件顶部的低富集度抑制区对末端效应的贡献,并对燃料组件进行设计改进,减小至消除末端效应,为简化乏燃料组件相关的临界安全分析提供了一个方法。相关研究工作及成果,是先进非能动压水堆核电站乏燃料组件相关的设施设备的临界安全设计的基础,可为其他堆型的相应研究提供参考和借鉴。     

高密度乏燃料贮存格架临界安全设计

基于第三代先进非能动压水堆核电厂的设计特点、运行方式及其复杂的燃料组件设计,考虑各种能谱硬化因素,研究组件燃耗计算的运行条件组合,获得指定燃耗深度下的核素密度。建立乏燃料贮存格架的临界计算模型,并对临界安全分析中的关键因素(如末端效应、可信事故工况等)进行详细研究,最终初步设计出满足我国最新(临界)标准和要求的、可应用于实际工程的高密度乏燃料贮存格架。     

基于燃耗信任制的核电厂乏燃料贮存水池临界计算

为研究初始富集度为4.95%的新型燃料组件卸料后高密度贮存的可行性,以岭澳核电站3、4号机组乏燃料贮存水池为例,利用SCALE5.1程序系统中基于燃耗信任制的STARBUCS临界计算程序,分析了该新型燃料组件在不同燃耗情况下,锕系核素和裂变产物的产额变化及其对反应性的影响;基于锕系加裂变产物信任水平,计算了燃料组件在不同燃耗深度和不同贮存年限情况下的乏燃料贮存水池临界安全性;给出了乏燃料贮存水池Ⅱ区的参考装载曲线。计算表明:该新型燃料组件在燃耗达到45 GWd.t-1(U)后可以高密度贮存在乏燃料贮存水池Ⅱ区。     

燃耗信任在PWR乏燃料贮存水池临界安全设计中的应用和发展综述

本文述评了燃耗信任在PWR乏燃料贮存水池核临界安全设计中的应用和发展现状，主要包括燃耗信任对临界应用的原理、规范和标准现状、国外发展动态，燃耗信任水平，信任同位素组选择，辐照历史、运行条件和冷却时间的考虑，轴向燃耗分布的末端效应，装载曲线和燃耗验证等．     

轻水堆燃料关联核素的特征比值与乏燃料堆型的辨别

应用燃耗分析程序MCCOOR计算压水堆和沸水堆的栅元模型满功率运行时2种不同初始燃料富集度情形下不同燃耗深度的燃料核素成分，分析轻水堆燃料的关联核素比值与燃耗深度的关系，获得了轻水堆燃料的关联核素特征比值，并探索了由乏燃料相应核素特征比值确定其堆型的可行性。      

燃耗信任制中可燃毒物对乏燃料反应性的影响分析

以压水堆(PWR)常用的可燃毒物棒(BPRs)为研究对象,定性分析了组件燃耗过程中不同类型的BPRs对燃料组件反应性的影响,为基于燃耗信任制的乏燃料贮存系统临界安全分析保守参数的选取提供参考。分析表明,在组件燃耗过程中含有BPRs时,忽略含钆毒物可使临界分析结果保守,而必须考虑涂硼燃料元件(IFBA)、湿式环状可燃毒物棒(WABA)、硼玻璃可燃毒物棒(PYREX)等对乏燃料反应性的影响。     

基于cosRMC的新一代PWR栅元和组件燃耗计算

新一代压水堆与现有压水堆的重要区别之一是燃料富集度不同,考虑到燃料制造、燃料燃耗等问题,目前压水堆的UO₂燃料富集度通常小于5%,MOX燃料中易裂变Pu含量通常小于6%。新一代压水堆的燃料富集度有可能超过现有标准,平均燃耗有望达到70 GW•d/tU,这对反应堆计算软件提出了新的要求。本文基于反应堆蒙特卡罗程序cosRMC对新一代压水堆栅元和组件基准进行了中子学分析,包括裂变反应率分布、中子通量密度分布及核子密度随燃耗的变化等,并对含Gd棒的组件燃耗计算进行了细致分析。计算结果表明,cosRMC的计算结果与国际上其他程序的计算结果符合较好。通过程序之间结果对比发现,随着燃耗的增加,不同程序计算的Pu含量差别变大。     

田湾核电站乏燃料干式贮存临界安全计算研究

以CASTOR 1000/19干式贮存容器装载田湾核电站六角形乏燃料组件为例,研究六角形乏燃料干式贮存的临界安全问题。基于新燃料假设,应用MONK9A程序对贮存容器满装载乏燃料进行不同工况下k_eff的计算。计算结果表明：正常工况下,k_eff远小于临界安全限值,是临界安全的;事故工况下,当²³⁵U富集度大于3.15%时,系统存在临界安全风险,须减少乏燃料装载量来确保临界安全。考虑燃耗信任制后,采用相同的模型计算得出贮存容器满装载的参考装载曲线,按此曲线要求装载能确保所有工况下的系统临界安全。采用燃耗信任制技术提高了贮存容器的利用率。该研究可为田湾核电站采用乏燃料干式贮存方案提供依据。     

基于SCALE的RFA改进型燃料组件堆内贮存临界安全分析

RFA改进型燃料组件是西屋公司设计的能应用于大功率先进压水堆的改进型燃料组件。SCALE计算程序是一款在国际上得到广泛认可的综合性建模及模拟程序包,可用于核设计与核安全分析。基于SCALE计算程序,针对大功率先进压水堆的乏燃料贮存水池,建立恰当的计算模型,并选取合理的保守假设,分析乏燃料水池正常贮存及事故工况下的临界安全。计算结果表明一区正常贮存工况keff值为0.901 29,组件跌落事故工况下,有效增值因子为0.907 93。二区正常贮存工况下,计算模型keff值为0.909 98,新燃料组件误插入事故工况keff值为0.924 07。先进压水堆乏燃料贮存水池正常贮存工况及事故工况的有效增值因子均小于0.95,处于次临界状态。该设计模型可确保燃料堆内贮存区域临界状态安全可控。     

PWR核电厂乏燃料贮存临界计算重要核素的选取

信用核素选取是基于燃耗信用制乏燃料贮存临界安全分析的关键一步。通过对不同富集度、燃耗深度及停堆冷却时间下典型PWR燃料组件分析,以核素中子吸收份额大小排序为依据,筛选出对总的中子吸收起主要贡献的核素。结果显示,47个核素即可包络停堆后0~20a内影响乏燃料贮存系统反应性的所有核素中的99%。通过核素敏感性因子分析证明依据中子吸收份额排序选取重要核素的方法是合理的,与基准算例的结果对比证明所筛选出的核素能足够代表影响系统反应性的所有重要核素。     

Active reduction of the end effect by local installation of neutron absorbers

In the burnup credit analyses of interim or long-term spent fuel (SF) storage facilities and transport casks, when the average burnup value is greater than approximately 30 GWd/t, the neutron multiplication factor becomes greater if we consider the axial burnup distribution of the spent fuel assembly rather than assuming an average burnup. This phenomenon is called the “end effect” and it is one of the main technical issues in burnup credit research. The end effect is characterized by an increase of the neutron flux around the end regions of the spent fuel assemblies in the criticality calculation. However, such increase of the neutron flux has not been observed in experiments using actual spent fuel assemblies.     

Current status of spent fuels and the development of computer programs for the PWR spent fuel management in Korea

Nuclear power has supplied the national electric power demand for three decades in the Republic of Korea, which has resulted in the accumulation of a large amount of spent fuels. The government has a policy on the temporary storage of these at nuclear power plants at present. In order to establish a proper policy for spent fuel management in the near future, the characteristics and amount of spent fuels should be figured out properly. In this paper, the current status of spent fuels in the Republic of Korea is outlined focusing on the major characteristics of spent fuels such as initial enrichment and discharge burnup. According to the current trend, the average burnup of PWR spent fuels will reach 55 GWd/MtU by the middle of 2010s. Three different kinds of computer programs were developed to supply crucial data regarding spent fuels. The first one was developed to project the amount of spent fuels in the future based on three different projection models. The projection was verified with real spent fuel data. The second Database program was prepared for the analysis of statistics regarding PWR spent fuels. Each PWR spent fuel assembly was specified with 18 items of data such as fuel type, initial enrichment, and discharge burnup. The usefulness of the Database program was illustrated through an analysis of the geological disposal density and cooling time of PWR spent fuels. Disposal area could be reduced by 50% through a proper analysis of the cooling time of PWR spent fuels. Finally, A-SOURCE program was developed to easily calculate source-terms such as decay heat and radionuclide concentration after the pyro-processing of PWR spent fuel assemblies. Linked to the Database program, the A-SOURCE program selected PWR spent fuel assemblies and could calculate the source-terms for any combination of them. An illustration of the usage of the program was demonstrated.     

燃耗信任制临界计算中保守性因素研究

在运用燃耗信任制技术进行乏燃料储存、运输等环节的临界安全分析时,临界计算所采用的条件是否具有足够的包络性十分关键。本文借助于OECD/NEA发布的若干燃耗信任制临界安全基准题,使用SCALE5.1软件中的STARBUCS模块进行分析,对信任核素选取、乏燃料冷却时间以及端末效应等因素对乏燃料系统临界安全性的影响进行了研究,得出了各参数保守性的有关结论。     

乏燃料组件非破坏性测量的叉形探测器

采用总γ和无源中子测量方法建立了叉形探测器。叉形探测器可用于后处理和贮存工厂中ＰＷＲ和ＢＷＲ型的乏燃料组件的燃耗、冷却时间、总钚和总裂变物质含量的测定。     

Calibration of Burnup Monitor Installed in Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant uses burnup credit for criticality control at the Spent Fuel Storage Facility (SFSF) and the Dissolution Facility. A burnup monitor measures nondestructively burnup value of a spent fuel assembly and guarantees the credit for burnup. For practical reasons, a standard radiation source is not used in calibration of the burnup monitor, but the burnup values of many spent fuel assemblies are measured based on operator-declared burnup values. This paper describes the concept of burnup credit, the burnup monitor, and the calibration method. It is concluded, from the results of calibration tests, that the calibration method is valid.     

Spent fuel burnup estimation by Cerenkov glow intensity measurement

The Cerenkov glow images from irradiated fuel assemblies of boiling-water reactors (BWR) and pressurized-water reactors (PWR) are generally used for inspections. For this purpose, a new UV-I.I. CVD (ultra-violet light image intensifier Cerenkov viewing device), has been developed. This new device can measure the intensity of the Cerenkov glow from a spent fuel assembly, thus making it possible to estimate the burnup of the fuel assembly by comparing the Cerenkov glow intensity to the reference intensity. The experiment was carried out on BWR spent fuel assemblies and the results show that burnups are estimated within 20% accuracy compared to the declared burnups for the tested spent fuel assemblies for cooling times ranging from 900-2.000 d     

Estimation of Spent Fuel Compositions from Light Water Reactors

The compositions and quantities of minor actinide (MA) and fission product (FP) in spent fuels will be diversified with the use of high discharged burnup fuels and MOX fuels in LWRs which will be a main part of power reactors in future.

In order to investigate above diversities, we have studied on the calculation method to be used in the estimation of spent fuel compositions and adopted the real irradiation calculation in which axial burnup and moderator distribution are considered in the burnup calculation.

On the basis of the calculations, compositions and burnup quantities of various LWR spent fuels (reactor type: PWR and BWR, discharged burnup: 33, 45 and 60 GWd/tHM, fuel type: U0₂ and MOX) are apparently estimated among various forms of fuels. As an example, it is shown that there are considerable discrepancy in MA burnup between PWR and BWR spent fuels.     

Expansion of the capabilities of the GA-4 legal weight truck spent fuel shipping cask

Abstract

General Atomics has developed the model GA-4 legal weight truck spent fuel cask, a high-capacity cask for the transport of four pressurised water reactor (PWR) spent fuel assemblies, and obtained a certificate of compliance (CoC, No. 9226) in 1998 from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The currently authorised contents for this CoC, however, are much more limiting than the actual capability of the GA-4 cask to transport spent PWR fuel assemblies. The purpose of this paper is to show how the authorised contents can be significantly expanded by additional analyses without any changes to the physical design of the package. Using burn-up credit as outlined in US NRC Interim Staff Guidance 8, Revision 2, the authorised contents can be significantly expanded by increasing the maximum enrichment as the burn-up increases. Use of burn-up credit eliminates most of the criticality imposed limits on authorised package contents, but shielding still limits the use of the cask for higher burn-up, short-cooled fuel. By reducing the number of assemblies transported (downloading) to two and using shielding inserts, even high-burn-up fuel with reasonable cooling times can be transported.