Abstract
Extensions in commercial power reactor cycle lengths from 18 to 24 months present an attractive opportunity for utilities to reduce fuel costs and increase operational flexibility. Such an increase in cycle length requires regulatory changes including permitting licensees to operate plants with high burnup fuel, allowing fuel enrichments greater than 5%, and allowing rod-averaged burnups exceeding 62 GWD/MTU. This paper presents a safety analysis of two 17x17 Westinghouse pressurized water reactor core designs utilizing high burnup fuel and differing burnable poison strategies for which cycle lengths of at least 24-months are possible. Proposed core loadings consist of an IFBA/WABA strategy with fuel enrichments of 5.95-6.6% and a gadolinia strategy with enrichment of 6.7-6.8%. Focus is centered on control rod ejection accidents and control rod withdrawal transients using the PARCS 3-dimensional spatial kinetics code. Sufficient margin to thermal limits is maintained for fuel enrichments greater than 6% and burnup above 72 GWD/MTU during steady-state and anticipated operational occurrences (AOO). The most severe reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) case did result in cladding failure for limiting rods, and further analysis is required to determine whether the radiological consequences of the accident exceed the licensing basis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023 |
| Publisher | American Nuclear Society |
| Pages | 5964-5977 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780894487934 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2023 |
| Event | 20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023 - Washington, United States Duration: Aug 20 2023 → Aug 25 2023 |
Publication series
| Name | Proceedings of the 20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023 |
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Conference
| Conference | 20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Washington |
| Period | 08/20/23 → 08/25/23 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Assil Halimi and Dr. Koroush Shirvan of MIT for the development of the gadolinia core loading, their assistance in comparing results for this core design, and their review of this work. The IFBA/WABA core design modeled in this work was developed by Southern Nuclear Company. This work was funded by the US Department of Energy Nuclear Engineering University Program under grant DE-NE 9212 and partially funded by a Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Integrated University Program Fellowship.
Keywords
- Advanced Fuels
- High Burnup
- LWR
- PWR
- RIA