New stage on the neutronics and thermal hydraulics analysis of a small modular reactor core

Abstract

Building on the success of the large nuclear plants, small modular reactors (SMRs) offer the potential to expand the use of clean, reliable nuclear energy to a broad range of customers and energy applications. In this work, a model to describe the neutronics parameters of a SMR core that can produce up to 530 MW of thermal power was developed. Using this model, several configurations of fuel enrichment to obtain the most homogeneous distributions of the power inside the fuel assemblies during all the core lifetime were studied. Temperature reactivity coefficients and mass variation of the principal isotopes for the optimised core were calculated. Finally, a model that allows the thermal hydraulic evaluation of the hottest section of the fuel elements was developed. The outlet coolant temperature, temperature distributions in the pins and the radial temperature distribution in the hottest pin were calculated.