Cost/benefit analysis of eliminating poison control in LWRs

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5916593

Abu-Zaied, G

Since the economics of power generation determines, to a large extent,a utility's choice of reactor systems, the cost of electricity from a spectral shift control (SSC) reactor is a crucial measure of the SSC reactor's competitiveness. Thus, a preliminary cost analysis is an important part of our overall assessment. The economic comparisons in this work focus on the cost differences between a standard pressurized water reactor (PWR) and the breeder/moderator controlled/burner light water reactor (BMB-LWR) design concept. The BMB-LWR is a typical large current design PWR with a minimum of changes. The BMB-LWR does not use any poison for reactivity control in the cycle length range of interest (1 to 2 yr) and uses soluble poison only for refueling purposes, to provide a sufficient additional negative reactivity margin to supplement the water displacement system. However, the water displacement system is very similar to the control rod system from a mechanical design point of view, differing mainly in the characteristics of the in-core control pins. Mixing both poison and displacer pins in the same core introduces added complexity, but not necessarily at a large cost impact; e.g., the advanced PWR has substantial water displacement control components, whereas the BMB-LWR primarily increases the displacer-to-poison ratio. The annual credits and penalties of replacing the standard PWR with the BMB-LWR concept are covered in the analysis.

• OSTI ID: 5916593
• Report Number(s): CONF-881011-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 57
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210200* -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled
BREEDER REACTORS
CAPACITY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTER CODES
CONFIGURATION CONTROL
CONTROL
CONTROL ELEMENTS
COOLING SYSTEMS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FUEL MANAGEMENT
FUELS
KINETICS
LWBR TYPE REACTORS
MATERIALS
MODERATOR-FUEL RATIO
MODIFICATIONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR POISONS
POWER GENERATION
PRIMARY COOLANT CIRCUITS
PUMPS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR KINETICS
REACTOR LATTICES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
SENSITIVITY
SOLUBLE POISONS
SPECTRAL SHIFT CONTROL
THERMAL REACTORS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS