Study on the Effects of Enrichment and Fraction of Coated Fuel Particles on Fissile Utilization of 100 MWt Prismatic-type of High Temperature Gas Reactor

Abstract

High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) is one of Generation-IV reactor technology that has graphite moderate, Helium gas-cooled, and Coated Fuel Particle (CFP) layered by Tristructural-Isotropic (TRISO). The HTGR has an outlet temperature of around 1000°C that can be utilized for many co-generation processes other than to generate electricity. Due to characteristics of the CFP and TRISO, utilization of fissile material during reactor operation becomes important. This study aims to analyze the effects of enrichment and fraction of CFP on the fissile utilization of 100 MWt HTGR for two different fuels; UO2 and (Th-U)O2. Fissile enrichment is analyzed from 1-20% while the fraction of CFP from 10-60%. Using SRAC2006 code and JENDL-4.0 as nuclear data library, calculation and analysis are performed to find the optimal values of several important neutronic parameters.