Conceptual design of the double tube burnable poison for the next generation small modular reactor

Abstract

In this study, a new application of an innovative burnable poison (BP), which is called Double Tube Burnable Poison (DTBP), is introduced. Two design cincepts of the DTBP were tested in a small modular reactor (SMR) to achieve a longer operating cycle with low soluble boron concentration. These two concepts can be loaded in different locations in the fuel assembly, which increases the degree of freedom of nuclear design. The flexibility of this design allows it to increase its poison effect with the ability to control the depletion speed of its absorber materials. The DTBP pins were combined with the Erbia pins to achieve a flat k-infinite letdown curve with a significant reduction of the excess reactivity. The assembly and core calculations were performed by DeCART2D and MASTER codes. The results showed that the combination of DTBP and Erbia core achieved a cycle length of more than 3.5 Effective Full Power Years. Also, the highest value of Critical Boron Concentration was reduced to 309 ppm within the design limitations of the moderator temperature coefficient and the maximum pin power peaking. The performance of this option is the best among the other options including the conventional BP designs.