Subchannel analysis of fuel assemblies of a lead–alloy cooled fast reactor

Lead–alloy cooled fast reactor is one of the six Gen-IV reactors. It has many attractive features such as excellent natural circulation performance, better shielding against gamma rays or energetic neutrons and potentially reduced capital costs. A natural circulation lead–alloy cooled fast reactor with 10 MWth is under design in China (hereafter called LFR-10MW). Fuel assemblies thermal hydraulic analysis is of vital importance for a successful design. A subchannel analysis code with flow distribution model was used to carry out the thermal hydraulic analysis. This work briefly gave the thermal-hydraulic design for the LFR-10MW and analyzed the thermal-hydraulic characteristics under steady-state condition using the subchannel analysis code. Whole core analysis was performed to locate the hottest fuel assembly using the code. The hottest fuel assembly was analyzed to obtain the cladding temperature, fuel temperature and coolant velocity. The maximum cladding temperature, the maximum fuel center temperature and the maximum coolant velocity are all below the design constraints. These results imply that the thermal-hydraulic design of LFR-10MW is feasible.     

核热推进系统氢气物性及流动换热模型分析

为开展关于核热推进反应堆堆芯的稳态热工水力计算,基于现有针对压水堆的系统分析程序,添加了氢气的物性模型及流动换热和摩擦阻力关系式,并采用公开文献中的数据进行验证。结果表明采用上述模型计算得到的结果与参考值符合较好,二次开发的程序适用于氢气的流动换热计算。针对一种折流式核热推进反应堆堆芯,使用该系统程序建模并计算,得到了堆芯的流量、焓升等分布情况。研究结果表明,对于折流式核热推进反应堆,内外堆芯燃料元件之间的导热会增强堆芯释热不均,对堆芯的稳态热工水力特性有较大影响,堆芯物理方案的设计应结合热工水力方面的计算。本研究可为核热推进系统内氢气流动换热计算提供借鉴。     

Power up-grading study for the first Egyptian research reactor

In the present work, power up-grading study is performed, for the first Egyptian Research Reactor (ET-RR-1), using the present fuel basket with 4×4 fuel rods, (17.5 mm pitch), and a proposed fuel basket with 5×5 fuel rods, (14.0 mm pitch), without violating the thermal hydraulic safety criteria. These safety criteria are; fuel centerline temperature (fuel melting), clad surface temperature (surface boiling), outlet coolant temperature, and maximum heat flux (critical heat flux ratio). Different thermal reactor powers (2–10 MW) and different core coolant flow rates (450, 900, 1350 m³ h⁻¹) are considered. The thermal hydraulic analysis was performed using the subchannel code COBRA-IIIC for the estimation of temperatures, coolant velocities and critical heat flux. The neutronic calculations were performed using WIMS-D4 code with 5 — group neutron cross section library. These cross sections were adapted to use in the two-dimensional (2-D) diffusion code DIXY for core calculations. The study concluded that ET-RR-1 power can be upgraded safely up to 4 MW with the present 4×4-fuel basket and with the proposed 5×5-fuel basket up to 5 MW with the present coolant flow rate (900 m³ h⁻¹). With the two fuel arrays, the reactor power can be upgraded to 6 MW with coolant flow rate of 1350 m³ h⁻¹ without violating the safety criterion. It is also concluded that, loading the ET-RR-1 core with the proposed fuel basket (5×5) increases the excess reactivity of the reactor core than the present 4×4 fuel matrix with equal U-235 mass load and gave better fuel economy of fuel utilization.     

钠冷行波堆和驻波堆堆芯特性对比分析

采用自开发的MCNP-ORIGEN耦合程序MCORE对所设计的钠冷行波堆和驻波堆开展中子学和燃耗分析;基于MCORE获得的功率分布,采用自开发的钠冷快堆堆芯稳态热工水力分析程序SAST对钠冷行波堆和驻波堆堆芯开展热工水力分析。对比钠冷行波堆和驻波堆的堆芯物理特性和热工水力特性,结果表明：驻波堆在燃耗、最高包壳和燃料芯块温度方面具有优势,而行波堆在反应性波动和堆芯冷却剂出口温度均匀性方面具有优势。     

Thermal hydraulic calculation of the HTR-10 for the initial and equilibrium core

The thermal hydraulic calculations of the 10 MW high temperature gas-cooled-test module (HTR-10) are among the most important indications to judge the reactor performance under design conditions. The power distribution, the temperature distribution and the flow distribution of the HTR-10 are calculated for initial and equilibrium core in this paper. The temperature distribution includes the temperature parameters of fuel elements, the helium coolant and the main components in the reactor. In the temperature calculation of fuel elements, several uncertain factors are considered carefully, including non-uniform burnup, power distribution deviation, manufacture deviation of fuel elements, graphite balls mixed with fuel balls in the core, calculation deviation of heat transfer and so on. In the flow distribution calculation, the conservative pebble bed core flow value is selected. The results show that the maximum fuel temperature is much lower than the limitation and the flow distribution can meet the cooling requirement in the reactor core.     

Accuracy of nuclear design of fast and thermal neutron coupled core by SRAC

Supercritical-pressure light water cooled fast reactor adopts the blanket fuel assemblies with depleted uranium fuel and zirconium hydride layer in the core for negative coolant void reactivity. Thermal neutrons are generated in the core of fast reactor. It is called “fast and thermal neutron coupled core”. The purpose of the present study is to examine the accuracy of assembly and core calculations including preparation of the macroscopic cross sections with the SRAC code system for “fast and thermal neutron coupled core” in comparison with the Monte Carlo codes, MVP and MVP-BURN. Accuracy of the neutron multiplication factor and coolant void reactivity calculation has been evaluated in four types of cores of different fractions of the blanket fuel assembly with zirconium hydride rods. The conventional analysis is based on the macroscopic cross sections which are prepared with infinite lattice. The conventional SRAC calculation underestimates the neuron multiplication factor for all types of cores. Other findings are that the conventional SRAC calculation overestimates coolant void reactivity for the cores without zirconium hydride rods, and underestimates coolant void reactivity for the core of all blanket fuel assemblies having zirconium hydride rods. To overcome these problems, it has been proposed that the macroscopic cross sections of seed fuel assembly are prepared with the model that a seed fuel assembly is surrounded by blanket fuel assemblies in order to take into account the effects of the surrounding fuel assemblies. Evaluations show that accuracy of the neutron multiplication factor by the SRAC calculation can be improved by the proposed method.     

铅铋冷却快堆含绕丝燃料组件子通道程序开发与验证

由于铅铋冷却剂流动传热现象的复杂性,准确计算铅铋冷却含绕丝燃料组件的冷却剂和包壳温度是液态金属冷却快堆燃料组件热工分析的重点。本文基于集总参数法对守恒方程进行求解,开发了适用于铅铋冷却快堆的子通道分析程序,对液态铅铋在棒束燃料组件中的摩擦阻力模型、湍流交混模型和对流换热模型进行了适用性分析,并对7棒束大涡模拟和19棒束含绕丝传热实验进行了对比验证。结果表明：包壳和冷却剂温度的最大相对误差低于5%。程序能较好完成铅铋冷却含绕丝燃料组件的热工水力计算,可为铅铋冷却快堆设计提供支持。     

A comparative study of the MATRA-LMR-FB calculation with the SABRE result for the flow blockage accident in the sodium cooled fast reactor

A sub-channel flow blockage may be initiated by an ingression of damaged fuel debris or foreign obstacles into a core subassembly for the sodium cooled fast reactor (SFR) due to the compact design of the fuel arrangement. Since local coolant temperature could go up high enough to reach a safety limit by the blockage disturbance in the subassembly, the MATRA-LMR-FB code was developed to analyze such blockage effect. An effort has been undergoing to enhance its reliability.In this study, a code-to-code comparison analysis with another code, SABRE4, was performed to supplement a qualification of the MATRA-LMR-FB. The two codes were applied to the analysis of partial sub-channel blockage accidents in a subassembly of the KALIMER-150, which is a conceptual design of a sodium-cooled fast reactor with an electric output of 150 MW. The analyses were carried out not only for radially different blockage positions but also for different blockage sizes in the subassembly.In result, the two code results were generally agreed both in magnitude and trend within a range. Therefore, it was concluded that the comparison results could support complementarily the applicability of the MATRA-LMR-FB to the partial flow blockage accident in the subassembly of the SFR.     

基于双区域模型的钠冷快堆组件子通道分析程序的开发与验证

子通道分析程序是钠冷快堆堆芯热工水力设计和安全分析的重要工具。本文为计算和分析钠冷快堆组件在径向均匀与倾斜功率分布工况下的热工水力特性,利用双区域绕丝交混模型开发了一款适用于钠冷快堆组件分析的子通道程序SPLICA,并与FFM2A 19棒束实验数据与WARD 61棒束实验数据进行了对比验证。由于本文开发的子通道分析程序SPLICA使用了详细的绕丝交混模型,与经过二次开发后的COBRA程序的计算结果相比,对于FFM2A实验SPLICA程序计算得到的结果与实验结果符合得更好。这两个实验数据的验证结果证明了本文开发的子通道分析程序的准确性以及对高流量工况和低流量工况均具有良好的适用性。本程序能为钠冷快堆组件热工水力分析提供有效的设计和研究手段。     

数值反应堆堆芯通道级三维热工水力程序CorTAF开发及初步验证

堆芯是核动力系统的核心部件,其完整性是反应堆安全运行的重要前提。传统核反应堆堆芯热工水力分析方法无法满足未来先进核动力系统的高精度模拟需求。本文依托开源CFD平台OpenFOAM,针对压水堆堆芯棒束结构特点建立了冷却剂流动换热模型、燃料棒导热模型和耦合换热模型,开发了一套基于有限体积法的压水堆全堆芯通道级热工水力特性分析程序CorTAF。选取GE3×3、Weiss和PNL2×6燃料组件流动换热实验开展模型验证,计算结果与实验数据基本符合,表明该程序适用于棒束燃料组件内冷却剂流动换热特性预测。本工作对压水堆堆芯安全分析工具开发具有参考和借鉴意义。     

Feasibility study of the application of exotic pin for tight-lattice fuel assembly

A tight-lattice fuel assembly having less space for the coolant is more feasibly applied in Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR). The thermal hydraulic constraint due to smaller coolant space can be compensated by the high heat capacity of the liquid metal coolant. A tight pin configuration provides high fuel volume fraction which eventually gives better neutronic performance for longer core lifetime. A cylindrical pin array provides less flexible arrangement for tight-lattice assembly, which results in very narrow coolant gaps connecting its neighboring subchannels. Therefore, the so-called exotic pin shape is introduced, which enable to distribute the coolant flow more uniformly, to be applied in tight-lattice bundles with sodium coolant. As Nusselt number and wall friction correlation are absent for this type of geometry, CFD calculations are performed by employing k-ε turbulent model.     

Model development for analysis of the Korea advanced liquid metal reactor

The SSC-K code is under development for analysis of the Korea Advanced LIquid MEtal Reactor (KALIMER) design adopting a pool-type reactor in Korea. The SSC-L code which was originally developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory for analysis of a loop-type liquid metal reactor, is its precursory code. The main reason for the development is that SSC-L cannot be applied directly to the KALIMER design because its application is limited to only a loop-type reactor. The SSC-K code represents the core with multiple coolant channels incorporated with a point kinetics model for calculation of the reactivity feedback. It can provide detailed one-dimensional thermal-hydraulic simulations not only for the primary and secondary sodium coolant circuits, but also the steam/water circuit of the balance-of-plant. This paper presents an overview of the recent developments on the physical models for SSC-K. Those developments are concerned with the two-dimensional hot pool model for analysis of the thermal stratification phenomena in the hot pool, the model for the passive decay heat removal system, the sodium boiling model in the core, and other physical models necessary for the KALIMER analysis. It also demonstrates the analysis results for the unprotected accidents like unprotected transient over power, unprotected loss of flow, and unprotected loss of heat sink postulated in the preliminary KALIMER design. The major focus of these analyses is made on confirmation of the inherent safety characteristics for the reactivity feedback in the core.     

高温气冷堆热工分析模型改进与堆芯温度场分析

更准确地模拟球床式高温气冷堆堆芯温度分布,是反应堆安全分析尤其是超高温运行研究中的关键问题之一。由于堆芯球流运动具有不确定性,石墨块和碳砖等结构材料采用散体布置,堆内冷却剂流道复杂,对热工水力准确模拟造成困难,可进一步优化。本文结合HTR 10的结构特点和流道特征,简要分析了堆芯传热过程,说明了在热工模拟中准确划分结构和流道对获取更精确的堆芯温度分布的重要意义。详细梳理了冷却剂流动路径,改进了在THERMIX程序下建立的HTR 10原有热工分析模型,更合理地模拟了堆芯冷却剂漏流行为,使得模型对堆芯冷却剂流动和传热过程的描述更准确。与试验数据对比,改进后的模型对堆芯外围系统的温度分布模拟准确性显著提升。计算结果表明,反应堆在额定设计工况下满功率稳态运行时,燃料和反射层最高温度均未超过材料的耐热限值。     

Analysis of accidents leading to local flow stagnation in parallel fuel channels of RBMK-type reactors

The RBMK-type nuclear power reactors, still operating in Russia, are graphite-moderated with vertical fuel channels, using low-enriched nuclear fuel. The main challenge, which leads to the overheating of the fuel assemblies, fuel channels and other core components in channel type nuclear reactors, is a misbalance between heat generation in core structures and heat sink, which can appear due to the loss of coolant accident. In this accidental case, the emergency core cooling system ensures the core cooling. In RBMK-type reactors this system consists of hydro-accumulators and a number of pumps, taking water from large water reservoirs. This equipment injects water into the fuel channels through the group distribution headers at high pressure. However, the direct supply of cold water from emergency core cooling system into fuel channels is possible only if check valves on group distribution headers are closed properly. If these check valves failed, the part of water would be lost through the break, the flow stagnation in channels could occur, which might lead to overheating of fuel assemblies in the fuel channels. This paper presents the results of deterministic safety analysis, performed using system thermal hydraulic code RELAP5. Using this code the reactor cooling system of RBMK-1500 was modelled and analyses of loss of coolant accidents with failure of few check valves in group distribution headers were performed. The results of the calculations are used for the development of symptom-based emergency operating procedures for RBMK-1500. The basic principles that describe the complex distribution of water flows in vertical forced circulation circuit with parallel fuel channels can be adjusted for the RBMK-1000 reactors, still operating in Russia.     

Design concept of a small nuclear reactor for large-diameter NTD-Si using a conventional PWR full-length fuel assembly

A design concept for a small nuclear reactor dedicated to large-diameter neutron transmutation doping silicon (NTD-Si) is proposed. Conventional PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) full-length fuel assembly is used to assure stable and reliable supply of fuel. Criticality, neutron transportation, and core burn-up calculations are performed using the MVP/GMVP II code and MVP-BURN code. The calculation results show that the proposed reactor can be critical over 18 years, and excess reactivity can be suppressed by a combination of Gd₂O₃ burnable poison and soluble boron. Preliminary steady-state single-channel thermal hydraulic analysis showed that heat removal from core is possible under 1 atm operating pressure. Si ingots up to 30 cm in diameter can be irradiated in the reactor irradiation channels, and the uniform irradiation condition can be achieved for a large-diameter Si ingot.     

ULOF and UTOP Analyses of a Large Metal Fuel FBR Core Using a Detailed Calculation System

ULOF and UTOP analyses of a large metal fuel FBR core (1,500 MWe, averaged discharge burnup: 150 GWd/t) are conducted. The effect of core radial expansion is considered as the major negative feedback during the transient. A detailed analysis system is used, in which a transient core thermal-hydraulic code is coupled with three dimensional core radial deformation and reactivity feedback calculation codes, in order to calculate the radial expansion feedback. In ULOF analysis, the pump flow halving time is assumed to be 10 s, which is reasonably long and effective in avoiding too large power to flow ratio. The reactivity insertion during UTOP is set to be 34¢, based on the control rod reactivity design. As the analysis results, it is found that the core shows benign responses to both events, owing largely to the radial expansion feedback. No significant coolant boiling or fuel failure is predicted. The response during ULOF is compared to that of an oxide fuel core of similar design, and it is confirmed that the negative Doppler effect associated with the fuel temperature rise plays the major role in the quick power decrease.     

基于统计抽样的压水堆燃料组件性能分析不确定度量化研究

为能在给出数值模拟结果的同时提供置信区间,本文开展了压水堆燃料性能分析、组件燃耗和热工水力学分析计算的不确定度量化研究。采用西安交通大学自主开发的不确定度分析程序平台NECP UNICORN,分别耦合了轻水堆燃料性能分析程序FEMAXI、压水堆群常数计算程序NECP Bamboo Lattice和热工水力子通道程序CTF。首先针对不同物理过程的特点,分析需要考虑的不确定度来源。然后针对核数据协方差矩阵稀疏且不满秩的特点,应用COST方法以减少样本量。结果表明,对于燃料性能分析,边界条件、几何参数和材料性质对燃料中心温度有显著影响。对于燃耗过程,核数据和几何参数对特征值、功率分布、两群常数和核子密度的不确定度有显著影响。对于热工水力分析过程,边界条件、几何参数和模型系数对冷却剂温度和包壳温度的不确定度有较大影响。针对每种物理场,分别量化其输入输出参数的不确定度,对于后续量化复杂系统多物理耦合过程的不确定度具有重要意义。     

Steady-state thermal hydraulic analysis of the equilibrium core of Pakistan research reactor-1

Steady-state thermal hydraulic analysis of Pakistan Research Reactor-1 (PARR-1) has been carried out. RELAP5/Mod 3.4 (a best-estimate system code) was employed. PARR-1 is a swimming pool type research reactor using MTR (Material Testing Reactor) type fuel. It uses low enriched uranium (<20%) fuel with light water flowing from top to bottom under gravity. Standard correlations were employed to compute various parameters, which include: coolant velocity distribution in the core; critical velocity; pressure drop; saturation temperature; temperature distribution in the core, OFI (onset of flow instability) and DNB (departure from nucleate boiling).     

Reconstruction of cell homogenized macroscopic cross sections for analyzing fast and thermal coupled cores using the SRAC system

A fast and thermal neutron coupled core adopts blanket fuel assemblies with zirconium hydrides in the core for negative coolant void reactivity. Conventional neutronics calculation methods have been developed for analysis of a fast core or thermal core, in which the coarse-group macroscopic cross sections of fuel assemblies are prepared without including the effect of the surrounding fuel assemblies. However, such methods are not adequate for analyzing fast and thermal neutron coupled cores where the intra-assembly and inter-assembly heterogeneity effects must be precisely taken into account. Recently, a concept of reconstruction of cell homogenized macroscopic cross sections has been proposed to take into account effects of inter-assembly heterogeneities on macroscopic cross sections used in the reactor core analysis and successfully applied based on a Monte Carlo method. In the present study, a reconstruction method of cell homogenized coarse-group macroscopic cross section for analyzing fast and thermal coupled cores is developed based on a deterministic neutronics calculation code system, SRAC. Three types of fixed source calculations for unit assembly cell geometry are performed independently of the specific core layouts and their results are combined with the results of core analysis to produce cell homogenized coarse-group macroscopic cross sections. Numerical results show that the heterogeneity effects can be adequately reflected in the reconstructed macroscopic cross sections with the proposed method. When the number of energy groups is small, the proposed method gives poor results in the transitional energy groups from resonance to thermal energy. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the number of energy groups in this energy range.     

HEXTRAN–SMABRE calculation of the VVER-1000 coolant transient-1 benchmark

The VVER-1000 coolant transient benchmark is intended for validation of couplings of the thermal hydraulic codes and three-dimensional neutron kinetic core models. It concerns switching on a main coolant pump when the other three main coolant pumps are in operation. The problem is based on an experiment performed in Kozloduy NPP in Bulgaria. In addition to the real plant transient, an extreme scenario concerning a control rod ejection after switching on a main coolant pump was calculated. At VTT the three-dimensional advanced nodal code HEXTRAN is used for the core dynamics, and the system code SMABRE as a thermal hydraulic model for the primary and secondary loop. The parallelly coupled HEXTRAN–SMABRE code has been in production use since early 1990s, and it has been extensively used for analyses of VVER NPPs. The SMABRE input model is based on the standard VVER-1000 input used at VTT. The whole core calculation is performed with HEXTRAN. Also the core model is based on earlier VVER-1000 models. Nuclear data for the calculation were specified in the benchmark. The paper outlines the input models used for both codes. Calculated results are introduced both for the coupled core system with inlet and outlet boundary conditions and for the whole plant model. Parametric studies have been performed for selected parameters.