钼铼合金对掉落临界安全的影响

发射阶段的掉落临界安全是空间快堆设计中的重点和难点。目前空间快堆保证掉落临界安全的常用手段之一是采用谱移材料兼作结构材料。钼铼（Mo-Re）合金因其优异的谱移性能和高温性能常用作空间快堆的谱移材料和结构材料。本文以美国Prometheus基本型堆芯方案为研究对象，采用MCNP程序计算并分析了不同Re含量的Mo-Re合金对掉落临界安全的影响及其机理。计算结果及分析表明：Re含量不同，反应堆掉落工况对临界安全影响也不同；能谱软化和Re含量增加引起的Re共振吸收增强是最严重掉落工况转变的主要因素。     

SPACE-R意外掉落事故的临界安全分析

当空间热离子反应堆发生意外掉落事故时,必须采取反应性控制措施保证反应堆处于次临界状态。SPACE-R是设计目标为40kWe、10a寿命的空间核反应堆。适合SPACE-R意外掉落事故的反应性控制方案有:在燃料空腔内加入控制材料及在慢化剂中放入可燃毒物棒。利用MCNP程序分别对两种方案下反应堆的反应性进行计算,可知两种方案均对SPACE-R在意外掉落事故下的反应性有一定的改善。经综合考虑得出一个最终设计方案,能满足意外掉落事故的临界安全验收准则。     

空间气冷堆堆芯初步物理特性分析

为满足未来空间探测活动的大功率用电及轻质量载荷需求,以美国、俄罗斯空间气冷反应堆方案为基础,提出一个亚MW级空间气冷堆堆芯初步设计方案,并使用蒙特卡罗程序对该方案进行堆芯物理计算与分析,给出几种典型工况下的堆芯反应性以及中子分布特征。计算结果表明,该设计方案可满足反应堆的安全性要求,能实现紧急停堆,并可保证在堆芯被水淹没等设计基准事故条件下维持反应堆次临界,确保反应堆安全。此外,通过在堆芯局部燃料棒中添加热中子吸收材料,对堆芯径向功率分布进行优化,以展平径向功率分布。     

空间气冷堆堆芯初步物理特性分析

为满足未来空间探测活动的大功率用电及轻质量载荷需求,以美国、俄罗斯空间气冷反应堆方案为基础,提出一个亚MW级空间气冷堆堆芯初步设计方案,并使用蒙特卡罗程序对该方案进行堆芯物理计算与分析,给出几种典型工况下的堆芯反应性以及中子分布特征。计算结果表明,该设计方案可满足反应堆的安全性要求,能实现紧急停堆,并可保证在堆芯被水淹没等设计基准事故条件下维持反应堆次临界,确保反应堆安全。此外,通过在堆芯局部燃料棒中添加热中子吸收材料,对堆芯径向功率分布进行优化,以展平径向功率分布。     

星球表面用核反应堆临界安全分析

核反应堆电源具有寿命长、可全天候工作等特点,可作为星球表面及其他深空探测任务的电源。针对星球表面用核反应堆电源在发射过程中重返地面的临界安全问题,提出了星球表面用核反应堆的临界安全分析要求、分析假设与模型,并对反应堆临界安全特性及采取的临界安全措施进行了计算分析。计算结果表明,不同假设掉落环境下的星球表面用核反应堆的有效增殖因数均小于0.98,满足临界安全要求。反应堆通过采用Mo-14%Re合金结构材料、设置相对较厚的堆芯反射层以及在反射层包壳和堆芯外围涂覆Gd₂O₃涂层等措施有利于确保反应堆在事故时处于次临界状态。     

锂热管结构材料对热管冷却反应堆中子物理特性影响

锂热管反应堆是空间核反应堆的主要堆型之一,而锂热管结构材料的性能直接影响着反应堆经济性与安全性。本文以美国新墨西哥大学HP-STMCs锂热管堆芯方案为研究对象,采用SuperMC程序对Nb-1Zr,PWC-11,Mo-14Re,W-4Re,T-111以及ASTAR-811C几种候选锂热管结构材料的中子经济性与掉落临界安全特性进行分析研究。结果表明,上述几种候选结构材料的中子经济性依次为:PWC-11≈Nb-1Zr Mo-14Re W-4Re ASTAR-811C T-111;其中使用PWC-11、Nb-1Zr、Mo-14Re以及W-4Re结构材料时其管壁厚度变化对反应堆的有效增殖因子无显著影响;发生掉落事故情况下,临界安全分析结果表明结构材料的谱移吸收价值为:T-111ASTAR-811CW-4ReMo-14RePWC-11Nb-1Zr。综合考虑锂热管反应堆的中子经济性与安全性,推荐使用Mo-14Re合金作为热管结构材料。     

启明星2#反应堆临界运行方式的堆芯物理方案初步研究

本工作提出利用中国先进研究堆乏燃料组件构造既能在加速器驱动下次临界运行,也能临界运行的启明星2#反应堆堆芯方案。采用MVP-BURN蒙特卡罗燃耗程序,对反应堆临界运行方式下的堆芯方案进行了优化选择,给出了优选方案的核特性参数。     

用于核电推进的30 kWe反应堆电源堆芯设计

核电推进(NEP)堆芯采用液态金属冷却,根据冷却方式的不同,设计了回路堆和热管堆两种堆型备选,并采用蒙特卡罗方法的MCNP程序对其有效增殖因子、功率分布等堆芯物理参数进行了计算,最后从两种堆型固有特点出发分析其优缺点。提出了临界安全设计的两种优化方向,列出了反应堆可能面临的特殊临界安全问题并做了理论分析和计算,最终通过合理布置谱移吸收体(SSA)材料的位置解决了特殊临界安全问题。计算结果表明两种堆芯设计满足物理和热工设计要求。     

用于磁流体发电的超高温反应堆堆芯设计

本文对磁流体反应堆的堆芯方案进行了探索,对石墨基体燃料和金属陶瓷燃料进行了比较,选择了金属陶瓷燃料进行磁流体反应堆的设计,给出了堆芯方案及堆芯物理、热工计算结果,并对发射掉落事故进行了计算和分析。计算结果可满足设计要求。     

棱柱式高温气冷空间核反应堆初步方案设计与中子物理分析

空间核反应堆电源将核裂变能转换为电能,与太阳能、化学燃料电池等其他形式的电源相比,具有电功率大、系统比功率高、使用寿命长等优点,在太空探索中具有广阔的应用前景。以高温气冷堆技术为基础,提出了以氦氙混合气体作冷却剂,直接布雷顿循环的空间核反应堆电源方案。核反应堆是采用包覆颗粒燃料的小型棱柱式高温气冷堆,热功率为5 MW。采用蒙特卡罗方法进行了中子物理分析。结果表明,设计的反应堆满足10a以上的满功率运行寿期,具有负的反应性温度系数。通过布置B4C安全棒,使反应堆在发射失败引起的堆芯进水事故中能保证次临界。     

Criticality safety analysis for a core catcher designed in Korea

Corium is a molten mixture of portions of a reactor core generated by a core melting accident. Corium includes fissionable materials; therefore, a criticality safety analysis must be performed for the core catcher design. This study analyzes the criticality safety of corium arranged in a core catcher developed in Korea. The corium composition was calculated for a 1400 MW_e nuclear power plant. There are several variables involved in the criticality evaluation of corium, thus conservative assumptions were used to reduce the number of variables. A criticality evaluation procedure was employed to assess the operational failure of the core catcher under different accident scenarios. Four kinds of scenarios were selected, and criticality evaluations were pursued for each case. The multiplication factors in each condition were calculated with MCNP5 code. Also, the code bias was calculated with the benchmark problems of 262 LEU experiments to account for the uncertainty of MCNP code. All evaluation results for the assumed scenarios showed that the core catcher satisfies the regulatory guidelines for criticality safety. The calculation results will be used in the design of a core catcher being developed in Korea. It is expected that the data calculated in this study can be used as reference data for criticality safety evaluations of core melting accidents. Also, the procedure for criticality safety evaluation proposed in this study can be utilized to establish regulatory guidelines in Korea.     

Subcritical space nuclear system without most movable control systems

This paper describes the design and analysis of advanced space nuclear reactor (ASNR) whose design combines the advantages of radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) and space nuclear reactor (SNR). As opposed to current SNRs designs, ASNR is a subcritical system driven by ²³²U–Be neutron source to generate thermal power continuously. Most movable control systems in the SNR design are removed. The detailed neutronic calculations by MCNPX (Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended), including k_eff, flux, burn-up, loss-ratio of neutron source and immersion reactivity, show that ASNR has higher criticality safety and more compact structure to bear the risk of immersion accident compared with the past SNRs, and the new system can provide more thermal power than RTG. Furthermore, the neutron source efficiency is optimized to improve the utilization of ²³²U–Be neutron source with the improvement of criticality safety. Compared with the past designs of space nuclear power, ASNR could provide enough thermal power and avoid the occurrence of serious immersion accident in the case of total control system failure. ASNR has potential for future deep space missions.     

空间核反应堆本体参数最优化研究

空间技术是具有重大潜在前景的技术,对国家的科学、国防、政治、经济具有重要意义。为了满足空间条件及发射条件的要求,并使空间核反应堆经济性最大化,对空间核反应堆本体的结构设计方案和参数最优化进行了研究。在调研多种国外空间核反应堆方案设计的基础上,提出了空间核反应堆堆型与堆本体结构设计方案。建立了堆本体数学模型,将设计最优化的工程学问题转化为求解非线性整数优化的数学问题,采用编写Matlab程序语言的方法,利用数学软件求解了最优化问题,在理论上得到了所建立模型的最优化参数设计并探讨了旋转控制鼓数量变化与堆芯燃料半径变化对堆本体总质量的影响。堆本体总质量较初始模型下降了14.3%,为今后完成更进一步的空间核反应堆设计提供了参考。     

小型移动式铅铋堆运输过程堆芯进水事故工况下临界安全问题研究

小型移动式铅铋堆由于在海岛、偏远地区等场景的应用需要,整堆运输的安全可行性成为必要设计目标之一。基于小型移动式铅铋堆自身特点,采用谱移吸收材料的反应性控制手段进行反应性控制方案研究,以确保整堆运输的临界安全。利用MCNP软件计算在运输过程、堆芯进水事故工况下表面涂覆不同厚度Gd2O3涂层的燃料芯块的有效增殖系数（keff）,其中涂层厚度为50μm时满足临界安全要求;分析加入谱移吸收材料后堆芯的燃耗特性、功率分布和传热,验证表明其不影响堆芯正常运行,确定了此种反应性控制方案的可行性。     

SiO2热中子散射截面在空间堆事故分析中的应用

SiO₂热化效应可能对核废料地质储存库分析和空间反应堆坠落湿沙情况下的临界安全造成一定影响。本文结合最新的ENDF/B Ⅶ-1的TSL库,制作了ACE格式的SiO₂热中子截面数据库。分析了不同温度对SiO₂热中子散射截面的影响,比较了采用声子谱模型的SiO₂热中子散射截面数据与采用自由气体模型的SiO₂热中子散射截面数据的差异,并采用本文制作的截面库,对空间堆坠落湿沙情况下的临界安全特性进行了分析,给出了反应堆最易重返临界的湿沙成分比例。     

Reactivity control schemes for fast spectrum space nuclear reactors

Several reactivity control schemes are considered for future space nuclear reactor power systems. Each of these control schemes uses a combination of boron carbide absorbers and/or beryllium oxide reflectors to achieve sufficient reactivity swing to keep the reactor subcritical during launch and to provide sufficient excess reactivity to operate the reactor over its expected 7-15 year lifetime. The size and shape of the control system directly impacts the size and mass of the space reactor's reflector and shadow shield, leading to a tradeoff between reactivity swing and total system mass. This paper presents a trade study of drum, shutter, slat, and petal control schemes based on reactivity swing and mass effects for a representative fast-spectrum, gas-cooled reactor. For each control scheme, the dimensions and composition of the core are constant, and the reflector is sized to provide $5 of cold-clean excess reactivity with each configuration in its most reactive state. Reactivity insertion behavior is analyzed for each control scheme, along with the submersion behavior following a launch abort. The advantages and disadvantages of each configuration are discussed, along with optimization techniques and novel geometric approaches for each scheme.     

Submersion criticality safety of fast spectrum space reactors: Potential spectral shift absorbers

Compact, fast spectrum, nuclear reactors are being considered to support NASA's future space exploration sometime in the next decade. In order to secure launch approval, these reactors should remain sufficiently subcritical when submerged in seawater or wet sand and subsequently flooded, following a launch abort accident. In such an accident, the neutron spectrum in the reactor is thermalized, typically increasing reactivity, and potentially making the reactor supercritical. Incorporating “Spectral Shift Absorbers” (or SSAs), which have significantly higher absorption cross-sections for thermal versus fast neutrons, could offset the reactivity increase. It has always been the assertion that the worst-case submersion accident involves a fully flooded reactor; however, this work shows that, depending on the type and amount of SSA in the reactor, a submerged but unflooded reactor could be more reactive. A screening of the existing nuclear database for potential SSAs yielded 28 elements and nuclides, which are examined in detail as additives to a representative homogenous space reactor core by varying the SSA-to-U²³⁵ atom ratio. The effect of placing a thin coating of different SSA materials on the outside surface of the reactor core is also investigated. Nine SSAs (boron-10, cadmium, cadmium-113, samarium-149, europium-151, gadolinium, gadolinium-155, gadolinium-157, and iridium) are recommended for further consideration in actual space reactor designs.     

5MW THR的物理启动

概述了5MW THR 的装料,首次临界和控制棒调平试验的特点和结果。介绍了为保证安全所采用的外推方法和实际步骤。为了减小空间效应,在装料和外推临界过程中采用了特别的测量手段。实验证明,这些方法是有效的。