Inherent safety advantages of carbide fuel systems and technical issues regarding natural convection in LMRs

Abstract

The scope of work is to summarize inherent safety advantages that are unique to the use of a carbide based fuel system and to summarize the technical issues regarding natural convection flow in LMFBR cores. As discussed in this report, carbide fuel provides the designer with far greater flexibility than oxide fuel. Carbide fuel systems can be designed to eliminate major accident initiators. They turn quantitative advantages into a qualitative advantage. The author proposed to LANL a series of core design and component concepts that would greatly enhance the safety of carbide over oxide systems. This report cites a series of safety advantages which potentially exist for a carbide fuel system. Natural convection issues have not been given much attention in the past. Only during the last few years has this issue been addressed in some detail. Despite claims to the contrary by some of the LMR contractors, the author does not think that the natural convection phenomena is fully understood. Some of the approximations made in natural convection transient analyses have probably a greater impact on calculated transient temperatures than the effects under investigation. Only integral in-pile experimental data and single assembly out-of-pile detailed data are available for comparisons with analytical models and correlations. Especially for derated cores, the natural convection capability of a LMR should be far superior to that of a LWR. The author ranks the natural convection capability of the LMR as the most important inherent safety feature.