Effects of reaction temperature and inlet oxidizing gas flow rate on IG-110 graphite oxidation used in HTR-PM

The oxidation behavior of a selected nuclear graphite (IG-110) used in Pebble-bed Module High Temperature gas-cooled Reactor was investigated under the condition of air ingress accident. The oblate rectangular specimen was oxidized by oxidant gas with oxygen mole fraction of 20% and flow rates of 125–500 ml/min at temperature of 400–1200?°C. Experiment results indicate that the oxidation behavior can also be classified into three regimes according to temperature. The regime I at 400–550?°C has lower apparent activation energies of 75.57–138.59 kJ/mol when the gas flow rate is 125–500 ml/min. In the regime II at 600–900?°C, the oxidation rate restricted by the oxygen supply to graphite is almost stable with the increase of temperature. In the regime III above 900?°C, the oxidation rate increases obviously with the increase of temperature. With the increase of inlet gas flow from 125 to 500 ml/min, the apparent activation energy in regime I is increased and the stableness of oxidation rate in regime II is reduced.     

Neutron poison distribution in the central reflector to reduce the DLOFC temperature of a Th-LEU fueled OTTO PBMR DPP-400 core

In a previous study using a mixture of thorium and 20 a/o% LEU at 16 gram per fuel sphere heavy metal loading and adjusting the effective fuel enrichment to produce the same amount of cumulative energy per fuel sphere as with the 10 a/o% Low Enriched Uranium (LEU), the maximum Depressurized Loss Of Forced Cooling (DLOFC) temperature was reduced from 2273 to 1925 °C and 1811 °C for a symmetric and asymmetric core, respectively using an once-through-then-out (OTTO) fuelling scheme. This article presents an additional strategy for reducing the maximum DLOFC temperature by placing an optimized distribution of neutron poisons in the central reflector. This strategy produced maximum DLOFC temperatures of 1509 and 1448 °C for the symmetric and the asymmetric cores, respectively. These results are impressive as it means that the less complicated OTTO cycle with its lower capital cost achieved the same cumulative energy produced per fuel sphere than the standard six-pass refuelling scheme and that at substantially lower maximum DLOFC temperatures. Both the addition of the neutron poisons to the central reflector and the creation of a radially asymmetric core resulted in lower burn-ups that had to be reversed by increasing the enrichment of the fuel.     

Using thorium to reduce the maximum fuel temperatures during depressurized loss of coolant accidents in a once-through-then-out (OTTO) PBMR DPP-400 core

This article presents the results for the PBMR-DPP-400, but for a once-through-then-out (OTTO) refueling scheme. An optimization attempt of the axial and radial power profiles is reported. The main aim was to reduce the maximum depressurized loss of forced coolant (DLOFC) temperature by adding thorium to the fuel and making the fuel layout radially asymmetric by placing lower enriched fuel in the inner and higher enriched fuel in the outer fuel flow regions. These measures (1) flattened the peaks in the axial power profiles and thus suppressed the hotspots in the axial DLOFC temperature profiles and (2) ‘pushed’ the power radially outwards, so as to reduce the distance that the decay heat must be evacuated towards the outside of the fuel core. This resulted in a huge reduction in the maximum DLOFC temperature for the OTTO cycle from 2273 to 1811 °C, which is still above the 1600 °C limit but represents a remarkable result. Maximum DLOFC temperature below the 1600 °C limit was obtained by reducing the power output. The results obtained and the proposed strategies for further improvement are applicable to the Chinese HTR-PM and could produce even better results in Prismatic Block Reactors such as the Japanese HTTR.     

Effect of Delays in Afterheat Removal on Consequences of Massive Air Ingress Accidents in High-Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors

Massive ingress of air into the core of a high-temperature gas cooled reactor is among the accidents with a low occurrence frequency, but there are still gaps in understanding with respect to its consequences. In the present paper, massive air ingress combined with a delayed start of the afterheat removal system is investigated and compared to air ingress, accidents with normal operation of the afterheat removal procedure. A computer programme REACT/THERMIX used for these accident analyses is described. For a high-temperature gas cooled reactor with a pebble bed core, it is shown that massive air ingress has no real safety endangering consequences even if the operation of the afterheat removal system is delayed by 6 h.     

Positron annihilation and nano-indentation analysis of irradiation effects on the microstructure and hardening of A508-3 steels used in Chinese HTGR

The irradiation and annealing behavior of Chinese A508-3 reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel (0.04 wt% Cu) after 3 MeV Fe-ion irradiation ranging from 0.1 to 20 dpa at room temperature (called RTRPV) and high temperature (250?°C, called HTRPV) was studied by positron annihilation Doppler broadening (PADB) spectroscopy and nano-indentation hardness. PADB showed that the density of vacancy-type defects was higher for low-temperature irradiations. The higher hardness was found after high-temperature irradiation because of the formation of solute clusters during irradiation. Positron annihilation measurements revealed the interaction and clustering of vacancies with solute clusters which were introduced by Fe-ion irradiation. For both RTRPVs and HTRPVs, the positron defect parameter and positron diffusion length showed the recovery of the irradiation-induced defects. Total recovery was observed after annealing at 450 °C.     

板翅式回热器在高温气冷堆中的应用特性

根据布雷登循环的特点,选择板翅式回热器应用于高温气冷堆氦气直接透平循环的设计,以清华大学核研院设计的10万千瓦级高温气冷堆示范电站为例,在回热度一定的情况下,分析了回热器的迎风面积变化对换热面积、传热系数、压降以及循环效率的影响.并在一定的迎风面积下,进一步分析了回热度的变化对回热器及循环效率的影响.根据关键参数(迎风面积、压降、回热度、循环效率)之间的相互作用,研究了体积和压降对板翅式回热器设计的约束.研究结果表明,体积紧凑和降低压降这两个主要的约束条件是相互矛盾的.     

Numerical solutions for the kinematic model of pebble flow velocity profiles and its applications in pebble-bed nuclear reactor

The modular pebble-bed nuclear reactor (PBR) is a candidate Generation IV reactor being developed. The pebble flow in the very slow draining of fuel pebbles draws attention for its implications on core physical design and reactor physics analysis. One of the effective and simplified methods to address this problem is the kinematic model which is based on continuous theory to derive a diffusion equation for vertical velocity. This paper investigates the appropriate numerical solutions for the kinematic model of pebble flow velocity profiles in PBR geometry. Our method is based on a previously proposed transformed Cartesian coordinates and uses the implicit Crank–Nicholson integration scheme with two different treatments of the boundary conditions. Validations show that this numerical solution gives preferable agreements with the experimental results in the reference. Finally, the simulated velocity profiles are applied in the investigation of two pebble burnup-related issues, which are the pebble residence time prediction and the channel scheme in realistic high-temperature reactor pebble-bed modules reactor core geometry.     

Creep Properties of Base Metal and Welded Joint of Hastelloy XR Produced for High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor in Simulated Primary-Coolant Helium

Creep tests of base metal, weld metal and welded joint of Hastelloy XR, which had the same chemical composition as Hastelloy XR produced for an intermediate heat exchanger of the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor, were conducted in simulated primary coolant helium. The weld metal and welded joint showed almost equal to or longer rupture time than the base metal of Hastelloy XR at 850 and 900°C, although they gave shorter rupture time at 950° C under low stress and at 1,000°C. The welded joint of Hastelloy XR ruptured at the base metal region at 850 and 900°C. On the other hand, it ruptured at the weld metal region at 950 and 1,000°C. The steady-state creep rate of weld metal of Hastelloy XR was lower than that of base metal at 850, 900 and 950°C. The creep rupture strengths of base metal, weld metal and welded joint of Hastelloy XR obtained in this study were confirmed to be much higher than the design allowable creep-rupture stress (S_R ) of the Design Allowable Limits below 950°C.     

Improvements in Quality of As-Manufactured Fuels for High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors

The mechanisms of coating failure of the fuel particles for the high-temperature gas-cooled reactors during coating and compaction processes of the fuel fabrication were studied to determine a way to reduce the defective particle fraction of the as-manufactured fuels. Through the observation of the defective particles, it was found that the coating failure during the coating process was mainly caused by the strong mechanical shocks to the particles given by violent particle fluidization in the coater and by unloading and loading of the particles. The coating failure during the compaction process was probably related to the direct contact with neighboring particles in the fuel compacts. The coating process was improved by optimizing the mode of the particle fluidization and by developing the process without unloading and loading of the particles at intermediate coating process. The compaction process was improved by optimizing the combination of the pressing temperature and the pressing speed of the overcoated particles. Through these modifications of the fabrication process, the quality of the as-manufactured fuel compacts was improved outstandingly.     

小型高温气冷堆的堆型方案比较

本文对模块式高温气冷堆的棱柱状和球床两种堆芯型式和一体化与肩并肩分置式两种总体设计方案分别进行了技术特点、设计制造、运行经验和安全性与经济性的比较,提出了在我国发展高温气冷堆的堆型选用原则和建议.