Preliminary core design studies for the advanced burner reactor over a wide range of conversion ratios.
A consistent set of designs for 1000 MWt commercial-scale sodium-cooled Advance Burner Reactors (ABR) have been developed for both metal and oxide-fueled cores with conversion ratios from breakeven (CR=1.0) to fertile-free (CR=0.0). These designs are expected to satisfy thermal and irradiation damage limits based on the currently available data. The very low conversion ratio designs require fuel that is beyond the current fuel database, which is anticipated to be qualified by and for the Advanced Burned Test Reactor. Safety and kinetic parameters were calculated, but a safety analysis was not performed. Development of these designs was required to achieve the primary goal of this study, which was to generate representative fuel cycle mass flows for system studies of ABRs as part of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). There are slight variations with conversion ratio but the basic ABR configuration consists of 144 fuel assemblies and between 9 and 22 primary control assemblies for both the metal and oxide-fueled cores. Preliminary design studies indicated that it is feasible to design the ABR to accommodate a wide range of conversion ratio by employing different assembly designs and including sufficient control assemblies to accommodate the large reactivity swing at low conversion ratios. The assemblies are designed to fit within the same geometry, but the size and number of fuel pins within each assembly are significantly different in order to achieve the target conversion ratio while still satisfying thermal limits. Current irradiation experience would allow for a conversion ratio of somewhat below 0.75. The fuel qualification for the first ABR should expand this experience to allow for much lower conversion ratios and higher bunrups. The current designs were based on assumptions about the performance of high and very high enrichment fuel, which results in significant uncertainty about the details of the designs. However, the basic fuel cycle performance trends such as conversion ratio and mass flow parameters are less sensitive to these parameters and the current results should provide a good basis for static and dynamic system analysis. The conversion ratio is fundamentally a ratio of the macroscopic cross section of U-238 capture to that of TRU fission. Since the microscopic cross sections only change moderately with fuel design and isotopic concentration for the fast reactor, a specific conversion ratio requires a specific enrichment. The approximate average charge enrichment (TRU/HM) is 14%, 21%, 33%, 56%, and 100% for conversion ratios of 1.0, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25, and 0.0 for the metal-fueled cores. The approximate average charge enrichment is 17%, 25%, 38%, 60%, and 100% for conversion ratios of 1.0, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25, and 0.0 for the oxide-fueled core. For the split batch cores, the maximum enrichment will be somewhat higher. For both the metal and oxide-fueled cores, the reactivity feedback coefficients and kinetics parameters seem reasonable. The maximum single control assembly reactivity faults may be too large for the low conversion ratio designs. The average reactivity of the primary control assemblies was increased, which may cause the maximum reactivity of the central control assembly to be excessive. The values of the reactivity coefficients and kinetics parameters show that some values appear to improve significantly at lower conversion ratios while others appear far less favorable. Detailed safety analysis is required to determine if these designs have adequate safety margins or if appropriate design modifications are required. Detailed system analysis data has been generated for both metal and oxide-fueled core designs over the entire range of potential burner reactors. Additional data has been calculated for a few alternative fuel cycles. The systems data has been summarized in this report and the detailed data will be provided to the systems analysis team so that static and dynamic system analyses can be performed.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 973480
- Report Number(s):
- ANL-AFCI-177; TRN: US1001919
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
BREAKEVEN
BURNERS
CONFIGURATION
CONVERSION RATIO
CROSS SECTIONS
FAST REACTORS
FEEDBACK
FISSION
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
FUEL CYCLE
FUEL PINS
GEOMETRY
IRRADIATION
KINETICS
NUCLEAR ENERGY
REACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS
SAFETY ANALYSIS
SAFETY MARGINS
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
TEST REACTORS