Steady-state thermal hydraulic and safety analyses of a proposed mixed fuel (HEU&LEU) core for Pakistan research reactor-1

Abstract

Pakistan Research Reactor (PARR-1) was converted from Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) to Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) fuel, in 1992. The reactor is running successfully with an upgraded power level of 10 MW. In order to save money on the purchase of costly fresh LEU fuel elements, it is being thought to use some of the less burnt HEU spent fuel elements along with the present LEU fuel elements. In the present study steady-state thermal hydraulics of a proposed mixed fuel core (see Fig. 2) has been carried out. Results show that the proposed core, comprising of 24 LEU and 5 HEU standard fuel elements, with 4 LEU and one HEU control fuel elements, can be safely operated at a power level of 9.86 MW without compromising on safety. Standard computer codes and correlations were employed to compute various parameters, which include: coolant velocity distribution in the core; critical velocity; pressure drop; saturation temperature; temperature distribution in the core and margins to Onset of Nucleate Boiling (ONB), Onset of Flow Instability (OFI) and Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB).