TY - JOUR
T1 - Reactor physics analysis of a new Accident Tolerant Fuel called Fuel-in-Fibers
AU - Hiscox, Briana
AU - Shirvan, Koroush
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - Fuel-in-Fibers (F-in-F) is an Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) concept aimed at significantly increasing the fission product retention capability of nuclear fuel at high temperatures, similar to another ATF concept, Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel (FCM). FCM, however, when implemented in a conventional Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel geometry, is not able to maintain an 18-month fuel cycle length and remain below the proliferation enrichment limit of 20 w/o 235 U using the standard cycle reload strategy. The F-in-F enrichment is decreased by putting the fuel in a cylindrical fiber instead of a spherical particle in order to increase the volume fraction of fuel in the pellet. The fibers are created with a direct manufacturing process that allows for the minimization of the volume occupied by the SiC matrix and the maximization of uranium loading via direct deposition of high density fuels like uranium nitride (UN). The full core reactor physics simulation showed that when the F-in-F design used UN as a fuel, it only required enrichments of 6% to maintain an 18-month fuel cycle length. Based on a full core analysis when compared to the current reference fuel for a standard 4-loop Westinghouse PWR, F-in-F has a similar steady state thermal hydraulic and neutronic performance.
AB - Fuel-in-Fibers (F-in-F) is an Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) concept aimed at significantly increasing the fission product retention capability of nuclear fuel at high temperatures, similar to another ATF concept, Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel (FCM). FCM, however, when implemented in a conventional Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel geometry, is not able to maintain an 18-month fuel cycle length and remain below the proliferation enrichment limit of 20 w/o 235 U using the standard cycle reload strategy. The F-in-F enrichment is decreased by putting the fuel in a cylindrical fiber instead of a spherical particle in order to increase the volume fraction of fuel in the pellet. The fibers are created with a direct manufacturing process that allows for the minimization of the volume occupied by the SiC matrix and the maximization of uranium loading via direct deposition of high density fuels like uranium nitride (UN). The full core reactor physics simulation showed that when the F-in-F design used UN as a fuel, it only required enrichments of 6% to maintain an 18-month fuel cycle length. Based on a full core analysis when compared to the current reference fuel for a standard 4-loop Westinghouse PWR, F-in-F has a similar steady state thermal hydraulic and neutronic performance.
KW - ATF
KW - Core analysis
KW - FCM
KW - Nuclear design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063100701&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.anucene.2019.03.019
DO - 10.1016/j.anucene.2019.03.019
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85063100701
SN - 0306-4549
VL - 130
SP - 473
EP - 482
JO - Annals of Nuclear Energy
JF - Annals of Nuclear Energy
ER -