EVOLUTION OF THE CANADIAN SCWR FUEL-ASSEMBLY CONCEPT AND ASSESSMENT OF THE 64 ELEMENT ASSEMBLY FOR THERMALHYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Canada has participated in the Generation IV (Gen-IV) International Forum with a main focus on the pressure-tube type supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR) concept. The Canadian SCWR concept is a heavy water moderated and light water cooled reactor. The research and development framework for development of the Canadian SCWR fuel-assembly concept includes experiments, analysis, subchannel code development, and applications, as well as coupled neutronic and thermalhydraulic analyses. The evolution of the Canadian SCWR fuel-assembly concept is summarized in this paper to demonstrate the enhanced performance characteristics and to show that the peak fuel cladding temperature is within allowed limits. The peak cladding temperature is a limiting thermalhydraulic parameter for the Canadian SCWR fuel assembly and is calculated using the ASSERT-PV subchannel code under steady state normal operating conditions with axial and radial power profiles corresponding to the beginning and the end of the fuel cycle. The power profiles were obtained from WIMS AECL/RFSP and MCNP physics code calculations. Using the ASSERT-PV subchannel code, the geometry of the Canadian SCWR fuel assembly has been further optimized to reduce the peak fuel cladding temperature for axial and radial power profiles of interest to the Canadian SCWR concept.