Radial power distribution shaping within a PWR fuel assembly utilizing asymmetrically loaded gadolinia-bearing fuel pins

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:7058050

Stone, I Z ^[1]

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1. Siemens Nuclear Power Corp., Richland, WA (United States)

As in-core fuel management designs evolve to meet the demands of increasing energy output, more innovative methods are developed to maintain power peaking within acceptable thermal margin limits. In-core fuel management staff must utilize various loading pattern strategies such as cross-core movement of fuel assemblies, multibatch enrichment schemes, and burnable absorbers as the primary means of controlling the radial power distribution. The utilization of fresh asymmetrically loaded gadolinia-bearing assemblies as a fuel management tool provides an additional means of controlling the radial power distribution. At Siemens Nuclear Power Corporation (SNP), fresh fuel assemblies fabricated with asymmetrically loaded gadolinia-bearing fuel rods have been used successfully for several cycles of reactor operation. Asymmetric assemblies are neutronically modeled using the same tools and models that SNP uses to model symmetrically loaded gadolinia-bearing fuel assemblies. The CASMO-2E code is used to produce the homogenized macroscopic assembly cross sections for the nodal core simulator. Optimum fuel pin locations within the asymmetrical assembly are determined using the pin-by-pin PDQ7 assembly core model for each new assembly design. The optimum pin location is determined by the rod loading that minimizes the peak-to-average pin power.

• OSTI ID: 7058050
• Report Number(s): CONF-920606--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 65
• 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
BURNABLE POISONS
C CODES
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CROSS SECTIONS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
FLUID MECHANICS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL MANAGEMENT
GADOLINIUM COMPOUNDS
GADOLINIUM OXIDES
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
MATERIALS
MECHANICS
NEUTRON ABSORBERS
NODAL EXPANSION METHOD
NUCLEAR POISONS
OPTIMIZATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POWER DENSITY
POWER REACTORS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RARE EARTH COMPOUNDS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR FUELING
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
SIMULATION
THERMAL REACTORS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS