Abstract
An innovative small transportable lead-bismuth cooled fast reactor, named SPARK, with rated power of 20 MWth is proposed to operate for 20 years without refueling as a remote power supply. The SPARK core neutronics and thermal-hydraulics design and preliminary safety analysis were performed in the current study. In order to achieve a compact and light-weight core design with enhanced transportability and passive safety, the selection of reflector materials, the optimization of fuel assembly design and radial core zoning loading, and the reactivity control system design were accomplished. MgO was selected as the optimal reflector material due to its good neutron reflecting characteristics and low density. The fuel assembly design was optimized to obtain a long lifetime of core and low peak cladding surface temperature. To flatten radial power distribution, 3 radial zones were designed with different fuel pin diameters. A liquid absorber control system was implemented using 6Li-enriched liquid lithium as the neutron absorber, which significantly reduces the core height. To reduce the initial excess reactivity, fixed absorbers were installed in the scram assemblies for the first half life and then replaced by fixed reflectors for the second half life. Based on the parametric study, the optimized core design was determined, and the core neutronics and thermal-hydraulics performances were evaluated. The objective core lifetime of 18 effective full power years was fulfilled with the compact and light-weight core design, and the thermal design constraints were satisfied during the whole life. Both the control and scram systems proved to independently provide sufficient shutdown margins. Using the quasi-static reactivity balance method, the passive safety characteristics of the optimized core design were analyzed based on 5 anticipated transients without scram. Passive shutdown was achieved due to the negative reactivity feedback. The critical design constraint of the peak cladding surface temperature was satisfied for all transients.
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