The dynomak: An advanced spheromak reactor concept with imposed-dynamo current drive and next-generation nuclear power technologies

A high-β spheromak reactor concept has been formulated with an estimated overnight capital cost that is competitive with conventional power sources. This reactor concept utilizes recently discovered imposed-dynamo current drive (IDCD) and a molten salt (FLiBe) blanket system for first wall cooling, neutron moderation and tritium breeding. Currently available materials and ITER-developed cryogenic pumping systems were implemented in this concept from the basis of technological feasibility. A tritium breeding ratio (TBR) of greater than 1.1 has been calculated using a Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP5) neutron transport simulation. High temperature superconducting tapes (YBCO) were used for the equilibrium coil set, substantially reducing the recirculating power fraction when compared to previous spheromak reactor studies. Using zirconium hydride for neutron shielding, a limiting equilibrium coil lifetime of at least thirty full-power years has been achieved. The primary FLiBe loop was coupled to a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle due to attractive economics and high thermal efficiencies. With these advancements, an electrical output of 1000 MW from a thermal output of 2486 MW was achieved, yielding an overall plant efficiency of approximately 40%.     

Measurements of the isothermal,power and temperature reactivity coefficients of the IPR-R1 TRIGA reactor

The aim of this paper is to present the experimental results of the isothermal, power and temperature coefficients of reactivity of the IPR-R1 TRIGA reactor at the Nuclear Technology Development Center – CDTN in Brazil. The measured isothermal reactivity coefficient, in the temperature range measured, was −0.5 ¢/°C, and the reactivity measurements were performed at 10 W to eliminate nuclear heating. The reactor forced cooling system was turned off during the measurements. When the reactor is at zero power there is no sensible heat being released in the fuel, and the entire reactor core can be characterized by a single temperature. The power coefficient of reactivity obtained was approximately −0.63 ¢/kW, and the temperature reactivity coefficient of the reactor was −0.8 ¢/°C. It was noted that the rise in the coolant temperature has contributed only with a small fraction to the observed negative effect of the reactivity. The power defect, which is the change in reactivity taking place between zero power and full power (250 kW), was 1.6 $. Because of the prompt negative temperature coefficient, a significant amount of reactivity is needed to overcome temperature and allow the reactor to operate at the higher power levels in steady state.     

TRU燃料热谱MSR定期换料及嬗变特性数值研究

熔盐反应堆（MSR）燃料制备方便、中子经济性好、燃料管理灵活,具有直接利用轻水堆乏燃料中超铀核素（TRU）的潜力。本文通过优化燃料选取、栅格参数及燃料/石墨体积分数和去除裂变气体和惰性金属等方法,对TRU燃料热谱MSR堆芯寿期、TRU核素积存量、次锕系核素MA嬗变支持比和TRU焚毁率等进行计算分析,证明TRU燃料热谱MSR可实现长周期定期换料,减少在线换料的难度,同时对MA和TRU核素具有一定的嬗变能力,可降低乏燃料放射性毒性。      

Feasibility of a critical molten salt reactor for waste transmutation

This study assesses the feasibility of designing a Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) using the salt mixture of LiF (15 mol%), NaF (58 mol%) and BeF₂ (27 mol%) to be critical when fuelled with TRU from LWR spent fuel without exceeding the actinides solubility limit and while extracting fission products at realistic rates. The first part of the study investigated the graphite-to-MS volume ratio on the neutron balance, transmutation characteristics and graphite lifetime. It is found that a core without graphite moderator is the preferred design option; it offers the best neutron balance, most compact design and alleviated graphite lifetime problem. The second part of the study investigated sensitivity of the epithermal spectrum core to the feed composition, power density, fission products residence time and actinides loss fraction. It is found that the transmutation effectiveness improves with increasing power density and that the shorter the LWR spent fuel cooling time is, the better becomes the MSR neutron balance. The optimal MSR design offers a remarkably high transmutation capability – fissioning of as high as 99.8% of the TRU fed. The transmutation capability of the MSR is also rated in terms of final waste radiotoxicity, decay heat, spontaneous fission neutrons emission, fissile and ²³⁷Np inventory.     

Concept design on RH maintenance of CFETR Tokamak reactor

CFETR which stands for Chinese Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor is a superconducting Tokamak device. The concept design on RH maintenance of CFETR has been done in the past year. It is known that, the RH maintenance is one of the most important parts for Tokamak reactor. The fusion power was designed as 50–200 MW and its duty cycle time (or burning time) was estimated as 30–50%. The center magnetic field strength on the TF magnet is 5.0 T, the maximum capacity of the volt seconds provided by center solenoid winding will be about 160 VS. The plasma current will be 10 MA and its major radius and minor radius is 5.7 m and 1.6 m respectively. All the components of CFETR which provide their basic functions must be maintained and inspected during the reactor lifetime. Thus, the remote handling (RH) maintenance system should be a key component, which must be detailedly designed during the concept design processing of CFETR, for the operation of reactor. The main design work for RH maintenance in this paper was carried out including the divertor RH system, the blanket RH system and the transfer cask system. What is more, the technical problems encountered in the design process will also be discussed.     

Proposal of an MFE-IFE cooperative system for a steady-state tritium balance

A new concept of a fusion reactor system, MFE-IFE cooperative system, is proposed. This concept combines the merits of a small-size MFE reactor and a dry-wall IFE reactor and aims at sufficient amount of tritium production and electricity generation without advanced technology. Design window analysis shows a NIF-scale (5 m chamber radius) dry-wall laser fusion reactor with a ～1 GWth fusion output and net tritium breeding ratio (TBR) of 1.74 can sustain an MFE power plant with a fusion power of 3 GWth and net TBR of 0.96. Although more detailed quantitative analyses are required, this concept can be a possible solution for a simultaneous achievement of tritium self-sufficiency and significant net electricity generation.     

Thermal,structural, and radiological properties of irradiated graphite from the ASTRA research reactor – Implications for disposal

The release of Wigner energy from the graphite of the inner thermal column of the ASTRA research reactor has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry and simultaneous differential scanning calorimetry/synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction between 25 °C and 725 °C at a heating rate of 10 °C min⁻¹. The graphite, having been subject to a fast-neutron fluence from ∼10¹⁷ to ∼10²⁰ n cm⁻² over the life time of the reactor at temperatures not exceeding 100 °C, exhibits Wigner energies ranging from 25 to 572 J g⁻¹ and a Wigner energy accumulation rate of ∼7 × 10⁻¹⁷ J g⁻¹/n cm⁻². The shape of the rate-of-heat-release curves, e.g., maximum at ca. 200 °C and a fine structure at higher temperatures, varies with sample position within the inner thermal column, i.e., the distance from the reactor core. Crystal structure of samples closest to the reactor core (fast-neutron fluence >1.5−5.0 × 10¹⁹ n cm⁻²) is destroyed while that of samples farther from the reactor core (fast-neutron fluence <1.5−5.0 × 10¹⁹ n cm⁻²) is intact, with marked swelling along the c-axis. The dependence of the c lattice parameter on temperature between 25 °C and 200 °C as determined by Rietveld refinement for the non-amorphous samples leads to the expected microscopic thermal expansion coefficient along the c-axis of ∼ 26 × 10⁻⁶ °C⁻¹. However, at 200 °C, coinciding with the maximum in the rate-of-heat-release curves, the rate of thermal expansion abruptly decreases indicating a crystal lattice relaxation. The ¹⁴C activity in the inner thermal column graphite ranges from 6 to 467 kBq g⁻¹. The graphite of the inner thermal column of the ASTRA research reactor has been treated by heating to 400 °C for 24 h in a hot-cell facility prior to interim storage.     

基于TREND程序的石墨通道液态熔盐堆无保护反应性引入事故初步分析

采用自编系统分析程序TREND,基于液态点堆动力学模型,针对10 MW石墨通道液态熔盐堆的设计,研究分析不同反应性在阶跃引入和线性引入情况下10 MW石墨通道液态熔盐堆堆芯功率、石墨温度和堆芯出口熔盐温度的瞬态变化。结果表明,阶跃引入低于570pcm（1pcm=10?5）反应性,堆系统能在无保护的情况下安全运行;当单根控制棒失提引入约800pcm时,反应性引入速率不超过8pcm/s,反应堆能够利用自身的温度、功率负反馈特性有效地控制功率峰值和降低堆芯出口温度,保证反应堆在无保护情况下安全运行。因此,液态熔盐堆具有良好的固有安全性。      

Neutronic model of a mirror based fusion–fission hybrid for the incineration of the transuranic elements from spent nuclear fuel and energy amplification

The Georgia Institute of Technology has developed several design concepts of tokamak based fusion–fission hybrids for the incineration of the transuranic elements of spent nuclear fuel from Light-Water-Reactors. The present paper presents a model of a mirror hybrid. Concerning its main operation parameters it is in several aspects analogous to the first tokamak based version of a “fusion transmutation of waste reactor”. It was designed for a criticality k_eff ≤ 0.95 in normal operation state. Results of neutron transport calculations carried out with the MCNP5 code and with the JEFF-3.1 nuclear data library show that the hybrid generates a fission power of 3 GW_th requiring a fusion power between 35 and 75 MW, has a tritium breeding ratio per cycle of TBR_cycle = 1.9 and a first wall lifetime of 12–16 cycles of 311 effective full power days. Its total energy amplification factor was roughly estimated at 2.1. Special calculations showed that the blanket remains in a deep subcritical state in case of accidents causing partial or total voiding of the lead–bismuth eutectic coolant. Aiming at the reduction of the required fusion power, a near-term hybrid option was identified which is operated at higher criticality k_eff ≤ 0.97 and produces less fission power of 1.5 GW_th. Its main performance parameters turn out substantially better.     

Effect of outside tritium source on tritium balance of a D-T fusion reactor

Attainable tritium breeding ration in the blanket system must be larger than the required breeding ratio when no effective tritium resources from outside are expected. It is revealed recently that a considerable amount of tritium can be trapped to the re-deposition layer of the first wall materials and that the time constant of this phenomenon is rather long. Then, the tritium breeding ratio around 1.1 is required in the blanket system when 3 years is claimed for the tritium doubling time to prepare tritium for the initial inventory of a next reactor. Construction of an outside tritium supply is one of the possible ways to compensate the lack of tritium because it is generally considered that the attainable tritium breeding ratio in the solid breeder system is around 1.05. It is reported recently that a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor can produce 10 kg of tritium per year. The preferable amount of tritium production rate of the outer tritium supply is discussed in this study from the viewpoint of tritium balance in a D-T power reactor.     

氢化锆慢化熔盐堆钍铀转换性能初步分析

中子能谱对钍基燃料在熔盐堆中的利用效率及温度反馈系数等安全问题有较大影响,所以对熔盐堆新型慢化剂的研究具有重要意义。本工作基于SCALE6计算程序,对不同几何栅元结构的氢化锆栅元组件在熔盐堆的物理性能进行了研究,分别计算了中子能谱、钍铀转换比、~(233)U浓度、总温度反馈系数以及燃耗等中子物理参量。结果表明,减小六边形栅元对边距或者增加熔盐占栅元体积比可以增加钍铀转换比和改善温度反应性系数;当加入的氢化锆慢化剂体积份额为0.1时就可以将熔盐堆~(233)U初始浓度降低到2.5×10~(-2)以内;氢化锆慢化熔盐堆在超热谱条件下,其~(233)U初装载量和超铀核素产量较小,同时堆芯较为紧凑。     

Experimental study of the coupled thermo-hydraulic–neutronic stability of a natural circulation HPLWR

The HPLWR (high performance light water reactor) is the European concept design for a SCWR (supercritical water reactor). This unique reactor design consists of a three pass core with intermediate mixing plena. As the supercritical water passes through the core, it experiences a significant density reduction. This large change in density could be used as the driving force for natural circulation of the coolant, adding an inherent safety feature to this concept design. The idea of natural circulation has been explored in the past for boiling water reactors (BWR). From those studies, it is known that the different feedback mechanisms can trigger flow instabilities. These can be purely thermo-hydraulic (driven by the friction – mass flow rate or gravity – mass flow rate feedback of the system), or they can be coupled thermo-hydraulic–neutronic (driven by the coupling between friction, mass flow rate and power production). The goal of this study is to explore the stability of a natural circulation HPLWR considering the thermo-hydraulic–neutronic feedback. This was done through a unique experimental facility, DeLight, which is a scaled model of the HPLWR using Freon R23 as a scaling fluid. An artificial neutronic feedback was incorporated into the system based on the average measured density. To model the heat transfer dynamics in the rods, a simple first order model was used with a fixed time constant of 6 s. The results include the measurements of the varying decay ratio (DR) and frequency over a wide range of operating conditions. A clear instability zone was found within the stability plane, which seems to be similar to that of a BWR. Experimental data on the stability of a supercritical loop is rare in open literature, and these data could serve as an important benchmark tool for existing codes and models.     

Conceptual design of compact supercritical water-cooled fast reactor with thermal hydraulic coupling

Fuel rod design for high power density supercritical water-cooled fast reactor was conducted with mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel and stainless steel (SUS304) cladding under the limiting cladding surface temperature of 650 °C. Fuel and cladding integrities, and flow-induced vibration were taken into account as design criteria. Designed fuel rod has the diameter of 7.6 mm and is arranged in the fuel assembly with pitch-to-diameter ratio of 1.14. New core arrangement for negative void reactivity is proposed by three-dimensional tri-z core calculation fully coupled with thermal hydraulic calculation, where ZrH layer concept is used for negative void reactivity. The core has high power density of 156 W/cm³ and its equivalent diameter is only 2.7 m for 1000 MWe class reactor core. High average core outlet temperature of 500 °C is achieved by introducing radial fuel enrichment zoning and downward flow in seed assembly. Small pressure vessel size and simplified direct steam cycle with higher thermal efficiency give an economical potential in aspect of capital and operating cost.     

Steady thermal hydraulic analysis for a molten salt reactor

The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) can meet the demand of transmutation and breeding. In this study, theoretical calculation of steady thermal hydraulic characteristics of a graphite-moderated channel type MSR is conducted. The DRAGON code is adopted to calculate the axial and radial power factor firstly. The flow and heat transfer model in the fuel salt and graphite are developed on basis of the fundamental mass, momentum and energy equations. The results show the detailed flow distribution in the core, and the temperature profiles of the fuel salt, inner and outer wall in the nine typical elements along the axial flow direction are also obtained.     

Long life small CANDLE-HTGRs with thorium

CANDLE (constant axial shape of neutron flux, nuclide densities and power shape during life of energy producing reactor) burnup strategy is applied to small (30 MWth) block-type high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) with thorium fuel. The CANDLE burnup is adopted in this study since it has several promising merits such as simple and safe reactor operation, and the ease of designing a long life reactor core. Burnup performances of thorium fuel (²³³U, ²³²Th)O₂ are investigated for a range of enrichment ⩽15%. Discharged fuel burnup and burning region motion velocity are major parameters of its performances in this study. The reactors with thorium fuel show a better burnup performance in terms of higher discharged fuel burnup and slower burning region motion velocity (longer core lifetime) compared to the reactors with uranium fuel.     

Towards assembly completion and preparation of experimental campaigns of Wendelstein 7-X in the perspective of a path to a stellarator fusion power plant

The superconducting stellarator device Wendelstein 7-X, currently under construction, is the key device for the proof of stellarator optimization principles. To establish the optimized stellarator as a serious candidate for a fusion reactor, reactor-relevant dimensionless plasma parameters must be achieved in fully integrated steady-state scenarios. After more than 10 years of construction time, the completion of the device is now approaching rapidly (mid-2014). We discuss the most important lessons learned during the device assembly and first experiences with coming major work packages. Those are (a) assembly of about 2500 large, water-cooled, 3d-shaped in-vessel component elements; (b) assembly of in total 14 superconducting current leads, one pair for each coil type; and (c) assembly of the device periphery including diagnostics and heating systems. In the second part we report on the present status of planning for the first operation phase (5–10 s discharge duration at 8 MW heating power), the completion and hardening of the device for full power steady-state operation, and the second operation phase (up to 30 min discharge duration at 10 MW heating power). It is the ultimate goal of operation phase one to develop credible and robust discharge scenarios for the high-power steady-state operation phase two. Beyond the improved equilibrium, confinement, and stability properties owing to stellarator optimization, this requires density control, impurity control, edge iota control as well as high density microwave heating. Of paramount importance is the operation of the island divertor, which is realized in the first operation phase as an inertially cooled conventional graphite target divertor. It will be replaced later on by the steady-state capable island divertor with its water-cooled carbon fiber reinforced carbon target elements.     

Reactivity control options of space nuclear reactors

This paper compares two ex-core control options of the gas-cooled Submersion Subcritical Safe Space (S^4) reactor with a fast neutrons energy spectrum: (a) rotating BeO drums with 120° thin segments of enriched B₄C in the BeO radial reflector; and (b) sliding segments in the BeO radial reflector. Investigated are the effects on the beginning-of-life (BOL) excess reactivity, reactivity depletion rate and operation life, and the spatial neutron flux distributions and fission power profiles in the core. Also investigated is the effect of reducing the thickness of the enriched B₄C segments in the control drums on the BOL excess reactivity, when one or two of the 6 drums are stuck in the shutdown position. Reducing the thickness of the B₄C segments from 0.5 mm to 0.238 mm, with one drums stuck in the shutdown position, increases BOL cold and hot-clean excess reactivity from +$1.71 and +$0.47 to +$2.38 and +$0.89, respectively. These reactivity values are almost identical to those of the reactor with one of the six reflector segments stuck open in the shutdown position. Results also showed that the control options made little difference in the reactor performance. The power peaking in the reactor core with sliding reflector segments is slightly lower and the spatial power profiles are relatively flatter. The operation life of the reactor with a sliding reflector segments control, when operating at a nominal thermal power of 471 kW, is only 22 full power days longer than with rotating drums control.     

Assessment of fuel conversion from HEU to LEU in the Syrian MNSR reactor using the MCNP code

Assessment of fuel conversion from high enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel in the Syrian MNSR reactor was conducted in this paper. Three 3-D neutronic models for the Syrian MNSR reactor using the MCNP-4C code were developed to assess the possibility of fuel conversion from 89.87% HEU fuel (UAl₄–Al) to 19.75% LEU fuel (UO₂). The first model showed that 347 fuel rods with HEU fuel were required to obtain a reactor core with 5.17 mk unadjusted excess reactivity. The second model showed that only 200 LEU fuel rods distributed in the reactor core like the David star figure were required to obtain a reactor core with 4.85 mk unadjusted excess reactivity. The control rod worth using the LEU fuel was enhanced. Finally, the third model showed that distribution of 200 LEU fuel rods isotropically in the 10 circles of the reactor core failed to convert the fuel since the calculated core unadjusted excess reactivity for this model was 10.45 mk. This value was far beyond the reactor operation limits and highly exceeded the current MNSR core unadjusted excess reactivity (5.17 mk).     

The neutronics studies of a fusion fission hybrid reactor using pressure tube blankets

In this paper, a fusion fission hybrid reactor used for energy producing is proposed based on the situation of nuclear power in China. The pressurized light water is applied as the coolant. The fuel assemblies are loaded in the pressure tubes with a modular type structure. The neutronics analysis is performed to get the suitable design and prove the feasibility. The energy multiplication and tritium self-sustaining are evaluated. The neutron load is also cared. From different candidates, the PWR spent fuel is selected as the feed fuel. The results show that the hybrid reactor can meet the expected reactor core lifetime of 5 years with 1000 MWe power output. Two ways are discussed including burning the discharged PWR spent fuel and burning the reprocessed plutonium. The energy multiplication is big enough and the tritium can be self-sustaining for both of the two ways. The neutron wall load in the operating time is kept smaller than the one of ITER. The way to use the reprocessed plutonium brings low neutron wall load, but also brings additional difficulties in operating the hybrid reactor. The way to use the discharged spent fuel is proposed to be a better choice currently.