OPTIMIZING ORGANIC-LIQUID-COOLED HEAVY-WATER NATURAL-URANIUM REACTOR DESIGN FOR SHUT-DOWN REFUELLING
Technical Report
·
OSTI ID:4841182
Taking advantage of the expected properties of uranium monocarbide fuel in relatively massive rods, a specific, 150 MW(e) reactor design is suggested for shut-down refuelling. The fuel consists of 7-rod bundles of 3 cm diam. solid rods in about 300 channels 400-cm long. Such a design is also attractive for on-power refuelling. Basic analysis shows that any practical and economical design for shut-down refuelling requires a combination of high fuel barn-up, high thermal-to-electrical conversion efficiency, moderate specific power rating and moderate total power. To support the cost of the heavy water inventory, the total power (P eMW) must not be too low. At a specific power rating of the fuel (R) averaging 6 thermal MW/tonne U or less, the competitive neutron absorption by the fuel overrides the absorption in the organic coolant. A high burn-up (B) of about 10,000 MWD(th)/tonne natural U results. The high outlet temperature of the organic coolant, 400 deg C will raise high pressure steam to 170 atmos, yielding a net station efficiency of 35%. The reactivity drop over each operating period (t/sub f/) can be made less than Rt/sub f//45 = 6.6 milli-k, for t/sub f/ = 50 days. Fuel management requiring each fuel element to occupy only two successive positions in the reactor limits re-positioning every 50 days to 2 P.t/sub f//eB = P/35 tonnes U or a fraction 2t/sub f/R/B = 6% of the total fuel. The suggested design depends on some extrapolation from established reactor lattice and coolant channel measurements. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Chalk River, Ontario (Canada)
- NSA Number:
- NSA-15-028805
- OSTI ID:
- 4841182
- Report Number(s):
- AECL-1291; DM-64
- Country of Publication:
- Canada
- Language:
- English
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