Feasibility of Improving BWR Performance Using Hydride Fuel

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:21021055

Fratoni, M; Ginex, F; Ganda, F; Greenspan, E ^[1]; Ferroni, P; Handwerk, C; Todreas, N ^[2]

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1. University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

Neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analyses have been performed for U-ZrH{sub 1.6} hydride fueled BWR cores considering a wide range of core design variables: (1) Fuel rod outer diameter in the range from 0.6 to 1.6 cm; (2) Lattice pitch-to-diameter ratio, P/D: 1.1 to 1.6; (3) Several uranium enrichment levels. The design constraints considered include minimum excess reactivity, negative Doppler coefficient, negative void coefficient, MCPR, peak and average fuel temperatures, peak clad surface temperature, coolant inlet temperature, coolant exit quality, coolant pressure drop, as well as constraints imposed by vibrations and structural considerations. It was found that U-ZrH1.6 fuel can significantly simplify the BWR fuel bundle design by eliminating water rods, partial-length fuel rods and wide water channels and by using a single radial enrichment. A 10 x 10 hydride fuel bundle having the volume of the reference 9 x 9 oxide fuel bundle can be loaded with 35% more fuel rods having a similar diameter and lattice pitch. As a result of this along with flatter pin-by-pin power distribution the hydride fuel bundle can deliver {approx} 40% higher power density than the reference oxide fuel bundle, provided the core coolant pressure drop could be increased by {approx} 50%. Alternatively, the hydride fuelled core can be designed not to exceed the reference BWR core pressure drop and to deliver the reference power while using {approx} 40% shorter fuel bundles. The hydride fuelled core has a more negative fuel temperature coefficient of reactivity and a less negative void coefficient of reactivity. These trends are expected to enhance the safety and improve the stability of hydride fueled BWRs. A thorough evaluation of hydride fuel and its implementation possibilities in BWRs is recommended. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21021055
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
COOLANTS
DESIGN
DOPPLER COEFFICIENT
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENT CLUSTERS
FUEL RODS
HYDRIDES
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
PEAKS
PERFORMANCE
POWER DENSITY
POWER DISTRIBUTION
PRESSURE DROP
REACTIVITY
TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT
THERMAL HYDRAULICS
VOID COEFFICIENT
WATER