Optimum coating layer thicknesses of a TRISO having an 800-μm UO2 kernel under normal operation conditions of a 10-MWth block-type HTGR

Abstract

The study evaluates the optimal thicknesses of the coating layers of an 800-μm UO2 tri-structural isotropic coated fuel particle (TRISO) for a 10-MWth block-type micro modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) using a response surface methodology (RSM) and an HTGR fuel performance analysis code, COPA. The objective function to be minimized in the optimal design of a TRISO consists of the product of the packing fraction of TRISO particles in a compact, the fractional releases of major metallic fission products from a TRISO and the failure probability of the silicon carbide (SiC) layers. A constraint on the sum of the coating layer thicknesses was made using a maximum packing fraction. Two fuel performance analyses such as a failure fraction analysis and a fission product release analysis are applied to the optimal designs of a TRISO that the RSM produced. An 800-μm UO2 TRISO having buffer, inner high-density pyrocarbon (IPyC), SiC, outer high-density pyrocarbon (OPyC), each with a thickness of 110, 40, 57, 35 μm, or 120, 35, 60, 27 μm is suitable for the operation of a 10-MWth block-type micro modular HTGR within 7600 days when both the SiC and through-coatings failure fractions do not occur and the fractional release of silver, cesium, strontium and krypton are below 1 × 10−9. The packing fraction of the optimal TRISOs in a compact is 40%.