Neutronic feasibility analysis of fully ceramic microencapsulated fuel for commercial PWRs

Conference · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016

OSTI ID:22765230

Mancang, Li; Dan, Wang; Yingrui, Y.; Dong, Qin; Wenjie, L. ^[1]

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1. Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory, Nuclear Power Institute of China, Chengdu, 610041 (China)

The fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel is based on tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) coated particles embedded in silicon carbide (SiC) matrix, which is among the accident tolerant fuel concept options. With the strength of high fission product retention, the FCM fuel provides potential superior safety performance. Compared to the conventional standard UO{sub 2} fuel, the deficiency of FCM fuel is its considerable lower fissile inventory, which results in a reduced reactor power or/and life. Supposing the FCM fuel is used as direct replacement of the fuel in commercial PWRs, the spectrum is softened due to the usage of SiC as matrix, and the moderator temperature coefficient is possible to be positive at the beginning of life, leading to high risk during operation. A neutronic feasibility study of FCM fuel utilized in commercial PWRs is performed in the paper. The fuel enrichment and under-moderated lattice are evaluated by analyzing the typical TRISO particle with UO{sub 2} kernels which is widely used in high temperature gas reactors and that with enlarged UN fuel kernels. It was found that under the mandatory constraint of low enriched uranium, the FCM fuel with UO{sub 2} kernels, although relatively mature, is only capable of small reactor designs, and the assembly lattice needs to be modified. The FCM fuel with UN kernels, when directly loading in the commercial PWRs, can yield comparable reactor power and life; however, a higher fuel enrichment and the fuel design and fabrication need to be optimized. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22765230
• Resource Relation: Conference: TOP FUEL 2016: LWR fuels fuels with enhanced safety and performance, Boise, ID (United States), 11-15 Sep 2016; Other Information: Country of input: France; 13 refs.; Related Information: In: TOP FUEL 2016 Proceedings| 1670 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ACCIDENT-TOLERANT NUCLEAR FUELS
CERAMICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ENRICHED URANIUM
ENRICHMENT
FABRICATION
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL PARTICLES
KERNELS
LIMITING VALUES
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR DESIGN
REACTOR FUELING
SILICON CARBIDES
TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
URANIUM DIOXIDE
URANIUM NITRIDES