Thermal Hydraulic Analysis of 3 MW TRIGA Research Reactor of Bangladesh Considering Different Cycles of Burnup

Abstract

Burnup dependent steady state thermal hydraulic analysis of TRIGA Mark-II research reactor has been carried out utilizing coupled point kinetics, neutronics and thermal hydraulics code EUREKA-2/RR. From the previous calculations of neutronics parameters including percentage burnup of individual fuel elements performed so far for 700 MWD burnt core of TRIGA reactor showed that the fuel rod predicted as hottest at the beginning of cycle (fresh core) was found to remain as the hottest until 200 MWD of burn, but, with the progress of core burn, the hottest rod was found to be shifted and another rod in the core became the hottest. The present study intends to evaluate the thermal hydraulic parameters of these hottest fuel rods at different cycles of burnup, from beginning to 700 MWD core burnt considering reactor operates under steady state condition. Peak fuel centerline temperature, maximum cladding and coolant temperatures of the hottest channels were calculated. It revealed that maximum temperature reported for fuel clad and fuel centerline found to lie below their melting points which indicate that there is no chance of burnout on the fuel cladding surface and no blister in the fuel meat throughout the considered cycles of core burnt. Received: 09 September 2014; Revised: 21 December 2014; Accepted: 22 December 2014