The Modeling of Advanced BWR Fuel Designs with the NRC Fuel Depletion Codes PARCS/PATHS. PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download The Modeling of Advanced BWR Fuel Designs with the NRC Fuel Depletion Codes PARCS/PATHS. PDF full book. Access full book title The Modeling of Advanced BWR Fuel Designs with the NRC Fuel Depletion Codes PARCS/PATHS. by . Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 13
Get Book Here
Book Description
The PATHS (PARCS Advanced Thermal Hydraulic Solver) code was developed at the University of Michigan in support of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission research to solve the steady-state, two-phase, thermal-hydraulic equations for a boiling water reactor (BWR) and to provide thermal-hydraulic feedback for BWR depletion calculations with the neutronics code PARCS (Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator). The simplified solution methodology, including a three-equation drift flux formulation and an optimized iteration scheme, yields very fast run times in comparison to conventional thermal-hydraulic systems codes used in the industry, while still retaining sufficient accuracy for applications such as BWR depletion calculations. Lastly, the capability to model advanced BWR fuel designs with part-length fuel rods and heterogeneous axial channel flow geometry has been implemented in PATHS, and the code has been validated against previously benchmarked advanced core simulators as well as BWR plant and experimental data. We describe the modifications to the codes and the results of the validation in this paper.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 13
Get Book Here
Book Description
The PATHS (PARCS Advanced Thermal Hydraulic Solver) code was developed at the University of Michigan in support of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission research to solve the steady-state, two-phase, thermal-hydraulic equations for a boiling water reactor (BWR) and to provide thermal-hydraulic feedback for BWR depletion calculations with the neutronics code PARCS (Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator). The simplified solution methodology, including a three-equation drift flux formulation and an optimized iteration scheme, yields very fast run times in comparison to conventional thermal-hydraulic systems codes used in the industry, while still retaining sufficient accuracy for applications such as BWR depletion calculations. Lastly, the capability to model advanced BWR fuel designs with part-length fuel rods and heterogeneous axial channel flow geometry has been implemented in PATHS, and the code has been validated against previously benchmarked advanced core simulators as well as BWR plant and experimental data. We describe the modifications to the codes and the results of the validation in this paper.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Simulation of boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel depletion poses a challenge for nuclide inventory validation and nuclear criticality safety analyses. This challenge is due to the complex operating conditions and assembly design heterogeneities that characterize these nuclear systems. Fuel depletion simulations and in-cask criticality calculations are affected by (1) completeness of design information, (2) variability of operating conditions needed for modeling purposes, and (3) possible modeling choices. These effects must be identified, quantified, and ranked according to their significance. This paper presents an investigation of BWR fuel depletion using a complete set of actual design specifications and detailed operational data available for five operating cycles of the Swedish BWR Forsmark 3 reactor. The data includes detailed axial profiles of power, burnup, and void fraction in a very fine temporal mesh for a GE14 (10×10) fuel assembly. The specifications of this case can be used to assess the impacts of different modeling choices on inventory prediction and in-cask criticality, specifically regarding the key parameters that drive inventory and reactivity throughout fuel burnup. This study focused on the effects of the fidelity with which power history and void fraction distributions are modeled. The corresponding sensitivity of the reactivity in storage configurations is assessed, and the impacts of modeling choices on decay heat and inventory are addressed.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 15
Get Book Here
Book Description
Prior to the DF-4 boiling water reactor (BWR) severe fuel damage (SFD) experiment conducted at the Sandia National Laboratories in 1986, no experimental data base existed for guidance in modeling core component behavior under postulated severe accident conditions in commercial BWRs. This paper will present the lessons learned from the DF-4 experiment (and subsequent German CORA BWR SFD tests) and the impact on core models in the current generation of SFD codes. The DF-4 and CORA BWR test assemblies were modeled on the core component designs circa 1985; that is, the 8 x 8 fuel assembly with two water rods and a cruciform control blade constructed of B4C-filled tubelets. Within the past ten years, the state-of-the-art with respect to BWR core component development has out-distanced the current SFD experimental data base and SFD code capabilities. For example, modern BWR control blade design includes hafnium at the tips and top of each control blade wing for longer blade operating lifetimes; also water rods have been replaced by larger water channels for better neutronics economy; and fuel assemblies now contain partial-length fuel rods, again for better neutronics economy. This paper will also discuss the implications of these advanced fuel assembly and core component designs on severe accident progression and on the current SFD code capabilities.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 23
Get Book Here
Book Description
Fuel behavior models have recently been updated within the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission steady-state FRAPCON code used for auditing of fuel vendor/utility-codes and analyses. These modeling updates have concentrated on providing a best estimate prediction of steady-state fuel behavior up to the maximum burnup level s of current data (60 to 65 GWd/MTU rod-average). A decade has passed since these models were last updated. Currently, some U.S. utilities and fuel vendors are requesting approval for rod-average burnups greater than 60 GWd/MTU; however, until these recent updates the NRC did not have valid fuel performance models at these higher burnup levels. Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has reviewed 15 separate effects models within the FRAPCON fuel performance code (References 1 and 2) and identified nine models that needed updating for improved prediction of fuel behavior at high burnup levels. The six separate effects models not updated were the cladding thermal properties, cladding thermal expansion, cladding creepdown, fuel specific heat, fuel thermal expansion and open gap conductance. Comparison of these models to the currently available data indicates that these models still adequately predict the data within data uncertainties. The nine models identified as needing improvement for predicting high-burnup behavior are fission gas release (FGR), fuel thermal conductivity (accounting for both high burnup effects and burnable poison additions), fuel swelling, fuel relocation, radial power distribution, fuel-cladding contact gap conductance, cladding corrosion, cladding mechanical properties and cladding axial growth. Each of the updated models will be described in the following sections and the model predictions will be compared to currently available high burnup data.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Boiling water reactors
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Tyler Shawn Ellis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 183
Get Book Here
Book Description
Sobering electricity supply and demand projections, coupled with the current volatility of energy prices, have underscored the seriousness of the challenges which lay ahead for the utility industry. This research addresses the impending global need for electricity through the development of advanced annular fuel designs with both internal and external cooling which can achieve higher power densities and hence, higher electricity output from the same basic reactor vessel and containment. Therefore the objectives of this project are to determine the optimal geometrical design parameters of an annular fuel assembly for both PWRs and BWRs for the purpose of achieving maximum power density. It is theorized that utility companies can utilize this design through either retrofitting of their existing reactor facilities or incorporation of the fuel design into new plant concepts. For the case of annular fuel for PWRs, a high performance uranium nitride fuel assembly concept capable of achieving a 50% higher power density was successfully developed. It is shown that a 5% enriched UN annular-fuel assembly can operate at 150% power density for about 50 effective-full-power-days more than that of the nominal 17xl7 solid-fuel-pin assembly operating at 100% power density. Furthermore, neutronic simulation times of this assembly was reduced from approximately 2 days per simulation for a Monte Carlo based analysis to approximately 2 minutes for a deterministic based simulation via the development of an appropriate correction factor for the CASMO-4 neutron transport code. It was shown that a 25% increase in U238 number density for the un-poisoned pins and a 35% increase for the 10 weight percent gadolinium nitride poisoned pins produced the optimal plutonium tracking and infinite multiplication factor simulation.
Author: NEA Nuclear Science Committee. Task Force on Scientific Issues Related to Fuel Behaviour
Publisher: OECD
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 96
Get Book Here
Book Description
Dated January 1995
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780982800843
Category : Energy policy
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Get Book Here
Book Description
"In this analysis we have presented a method that provides insight into future fuel cycle alternatives by clarifying the complexity of choosing an appropriate fuel cycle in the context of the distribution of burdens and benefits between generations. The current nuclear power deployment practices, together with three future fuel cycles were assessed."--Page 227.
Author: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear energy
Languages : en
Pages : 144
Get Book Here
Book Description
