Abstract
Problems about future energy availability, climate changes, and air quality seem to play an important role in energy production. While current reactor generations provide a guaranteed and economical energy production, new nuclear power plant generation would increase the ways and purposes in which nuclear energy can be used. To explore these new technological applications, several governments, industries, and research communities decided to contribute to the next reactor generation, called “Generation IV.” Among the six Gen‐IV reactor designs, the Gas Cooled Fast Reactor (GCFR) uses a direct‐cycle helium turbine for electricity generation and for a CO2‐free thermochemical production of hydrogen. Additionally, the use of a fast spectrum allows actinides transmutation, minimizing the production of long‐lived radioactive waste in an integrated fuel cycle. This paper presents an analysis of GCFR fuel cycle optimization and of a thermal‐hydraulic of a GCFR‐prototype under steady‐state and transient conditions. The fuel cycle optimization was performed to assess the capability of the GCFR to transmute MAs, while the thermal‐hydraulic analysis was performed to investigate the reactor and the safety systems behavior during a LOFA. Preliminary results show that limited quantities of MA are not affecting significantly the thermal‐fluid‐dynamics behavior of a GCFR core.
Highlights
The Generation IV ProjectGeneration IV proposals have been advanced in order to meet the new challenges for nuclear energy production, increasing the ways and purposes in which nuclear energy can be used
This paper presents an analysis of Gas Cooled Fast Reactor (GCFR) fuel cycle optimization and of a thermal-hydraulic of a GCFR-prototype under steady-state and transient conditions
The fuel cycle has been designed in order to asses the capability of the GCFR to transmute Minor Actinides (MAs), while the thermal-hydraulic investigation was performed in order to investigate the reactor and the safety system behaviors during one of the Design Basis Accidents (DBAs), the Loss-of-Flow Accident (LOFA)
Summary
Generation IV proposals have been advanced in order to meet the new challenges for nuclear energy production, increasing the ways and purposes in which nuclear energy can be used. Six new reactor designs have been proposed, all of them aiming to satisfy requirements of reliability, sustainability, economics, and resistance to proliferation that characterize the Gen IV [1]. Among the six Gen IV reactor projects, there are two with a thermal neutronic spectrum (High, Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR), Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR)), three with a fast spectrum (Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GCFR), Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR), Lead Fast Reactor (LFR)), and one with epithermal spectrum (Molten Salt Reactor (MSR)). This paper presents an analysis of the GCFR fuel cycle with MAs and a thermal-hydraulic analysis of a GCFR-prototype, charged with such composed fuel, under steady-state and transient conditions. The fuel cycle has been designed in order to asses the capability of the GCFR to transmute MAs, while the thermal-hydraulic investigation was performed in order to investigate the reactor and the safety system behaviors during one of the Design Basis Accidents (DBAs), the Loss-of-Flow Accident (LOFA).
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