Preliminary design study of small long life boiling water reactor (BWR) with tight lattice thorium nitride fuel

Journal Article · Tue Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4895866· OSTI ID:22307875

Trianti, Nuri; Su'ud, Zaki; Arif, Idam ^[1]; Riyana, EkaSapta ^[2]

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1. Nuclear Physics and Biophysics Research Group, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Bandung Institute of Technology (Ganesha 10 Bandung, Indonesia) (Indonesia)
2. Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN) (Indonesia)

Neutronic performance of small long-life boiling water reactors (BWR) with thorium nitride based fuel has been performed. A recent study conducted on BWR in tight lattice environments (with a lower moderator percentage) produces small power reactor which has some specifications, i.e. 10 years operation time, power density of 19.1 watt/cc and maximum excess reactivity of about 4%. This excess reactivity value is smaller than standard reactivity of conventional BWR. The use of hexagonal geometry on the fuel cell of BWR provides a substantial effect on the criticality of the reactor to obtain a longer operating time. Supported by a tight concept lattice where the volume fraction of the fuel is greater than the moderator and fuel, Thorium Nitride give good results for fuel cell design on small long life BWR. The excess reactivity of the reactor can be reduced with the addition of gadolinium as burnable poisons. Therefore the hexagonal tight lattice fuel cell design of small long life BWR that has a criticality more than 20 years of operating time has been obtained.

• OSTI ID: 22307875
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 1615; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BURNABLE POISONS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CRITICALITY
FUEL CELLS
GADOLINIUM
MODERATORS
NUCLEAR FUELS
PERFORMANCE
POWER DENSITY
REACTIVITY
REACTOR OPERATION
THORIUM