Abstract

An innovative concept of PFPWR50 for district heating has been studied, which is a small PWR of 50MWt capability using coated particle fuels with conventional zircaloy cladding. This concept takes advantages of fuel integrity against fission products release of coated particle fuels and a high reliability of PWR technology based on the long history of a successful operation. We have investigated burnup characteristics of fuel rods, assemblies, and reactor cores by the calculation code SRAC95 in order to establish a core concept of long life without on-site refueling. The loading pattern of assemblies with various concentrations of burnable poison is optimized to obtain a flat excess reactivity during the core life in order to eliminate a soluble boron control system. The core life of a cycle is about 8.9 equivalent full power years. And we have also studied the applicability of SiC/SiC composite cladding in place of zircaloy cladding, which is now under development for gas cooled fast reactor fuels. It could be applicable to high burnup fuel rods for a long term operation. From the calculation results, it is found out that the burnup characteristics do not change significantly with SiC cladding and contribute to elongate the core life to 9.2 equivalent full power years.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.