Establishing a neutronics design and equilibrium cycle analysis for the I²S-LWR reactor with UO₂ and U₃Si₂ Fuel

Journal Article · 24 May 2018 · Annals of Nuclear Energy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2018.05.036 · OSTI ID:1848139

Ward, Andrew M. ^[1]; Hon, Ryan P. ^[2]; Kooreman, Gabe ^[2]; Salazar, David ^[2]; Franceschini, Fausto ^[3]; Downar, Thomas J. ^[4]

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1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Nuclear Engineering; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). Nuclear Engineering
3. Westinghouse Electric Company, Cranberry Township, PA (United States)
4. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Nuclear Engineering

The Integral Inherently Safe (I²S-LWR) reactor was developed not only to enhance passive reactor safety performance, but also to improve reactor economics. This paper describes the steady-state and depletion analysis of the I²S-LWR core using both UO₂ and U₃Si₂ fuel designs. The development and validation of the core models are described, to include the generation of HELIOS cross sections and comparison with the WEC lattice code PARAGON and the Monte Carlo code SERPENT. The few group homogenized cross sections were then prepared for the U.S. NRC PARCS core simulator using the GenPMAXS code. The multicycle capability in PARCS was used to determine the equilibrium core condition for three batch cores loaded with the UO₂ and then with the U₃Si₂ fuel designs. Comparing the results from the WEC code ANC at beginning, middle, and end of cycle showed good agreement. Core conditions at beginning and end of cycle were then used to determine the converged steady-state conditions of a coupled RELAP5/PARCS model, which provided the initial condition for various transient accident simulations which are reported in a companion paper.

• Research Organization: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1848139
• Journal Information: Annals of Nuclear Energy, Journal Name: Annals of Nuclear Energy Journal Issue: C Vol. 145; ISSN 0306-4549
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English