Feasibility Study of Supercritical Light Water Cooled Fast Reactors for Actinide Burning and Electric Power Production

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/910979· OSTI ID:910979

Mac Donald, Philip Elsworth; Buongiorno, Jacopo; Davis, Cliff Bybee; Weaver, Kevan Dean

The use of supercritical temperature and pressure light water as the coolant in a direct-cycle nuclear reactor offers potential for considerable plant simplification and consequent capital and O&M cost reduction compared with current light water reactor (LWR) designs. Also, given the thermodynamic conditions of the coolant at the core outlet (i.e. temperature and pressure beyond the water critical point), very high thermal efficiencies of the power conversion cycle are possible (i.e. up to 46%). Because no change of phase occurs in the core, the need for steam separators and dryers as well as for BWR-type recirculation pumps is eliminated, which, for a given reactor power, results in a substantially shorter reactor vessel than the current BWRs. Furthermore, in a direct cycle the steam generators are not needed. If a tight fuel rod lattice is adopted, it is possible to significantly reduce the neutron moderation and attain fast neutron energy spectrum conditions. In this project a supercritical water reactor concept with a simple, blanket-free, pancake-shaped core will be developed. This type of core can make use of either fertile or fertile-free fuel and retain the hard spectrum to effectively burn plutonium and minor actinides from LWR spent fuel while efficiently generating electricity.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-99ID13727
• OSTI ID: 910979
• Report Number(s): INEEL/EXT-02-00107
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ACTINIDES
CAPITAL
COOLANTS
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRICITY
FAST NEUTRONS
FAST REACTORS
FUEL RODS
NEUTRONS
PLUTONIUM
PRODUCTION
REACTOR VESSELS
REACTORS
SPENT FUELS
STEAM GENERATORS
STEAM SEPARATORS
THERMODYNAMICS
WATER
actinide buring
electric power
light water cooled fast reactors
production