Download or read book Neutronic and Economic Evaluation of Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts for Light Water Reactors written by Ian Younker and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accident tolerant fuels (ATF) are designed to mitigate the detrimental interaction betweenzirconium-alloy cladding and high temperature steam found during beyond design basis accident conditions. Two ATF concepts under consideration are: (1) Coating the exterior ofzirconium-alloy cladding with thin ceramics to limit the zirconium available for reaction withhigh-temperature steam; (2) Replacing zirconium alloys with alternative materials possessingslower oxidation kinetics and reduced hydrogen production. ATF concepts are expected to workwithin the design framework of current and future light water reactors, and for that reason theymust match or exceed the neutronic and economic performance of conventional fuel. This studyanalyzed the neutronic performance and estimated the economic impact of the two previouslydescribed ATF concepts for use in both pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling waterreactors (BWRs).For PWRs findings show ceramic coatings should remain 10-30 m thick to limit neutronicpenalty and reduce fuel costs. For alternative cladding materials, SiC features reduced absorptionwhile other alloys (FeCrAl, TZM, Alloy 33 , and HT-9) enhance absorption compared to reference.Parametric analyses conclude reference performance metrics can be met by employing 90-160m thick clad when the clad inner diameter remains constant or 210-280 m when clad outerdiameter remains constant. For cladding thicknesses between minimum and reference valuesenrichment must increase 0.39-1.74% depending on alloy and geometry. Alternative claddingmaterials may reduce nuclear power plant prot up to $623 M over the 40-year plant lifetime.When incorporated into BWRs, these ATF concepts double neutronic penalties due to largerquantities of zirconium alloy.
Download or read book Metrics for the Evaluation of Light Water Reactor Accident Tolerant Fuel written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The safe, reliable and economic operation of the nation's nuclear power reactor fleet has always been a top priority for the nuclear industry. Continual improvement of technology, including advanced materials and nuclear fuels, remains central to the industry's success. Enhancing the accident tolerance of LWRs became a topic of serious discussion following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, resulting tsunami, and subsequent damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex. The overall goal of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) development is to identify alternative fuel system technologies to further enhance the safety, competitiveness, and economics of commercial nuclear power. The complex multiphysics behavior of LWR nuclear fuel in the integrated reactor system makes defining specific material or design improvements difficult; as such, establishing desirable performance attributes is critical in guiding the design and development of fuels and cladding with enhanced accident tolerance. The U.S. Department of Energy is sponsoring multiple teams to develop ATF concepts within multiple national laboratories, universities, and the nuclear industry. Concepts under investigation offer both evolutionary and revolutionary changes to the current nuclear fuel system. This paper summarizes technical evaluation methodology proposed in the U.S. to aid in the optimization and down-selection of candidate ATF designs. This methodology will continue to be refined via input from the research community and industry, such that it is available to support the planned down-selection of ATF concepts in 2016.
Download or read book Accident Tolerant Materials for Light Water Reactor Fuels written by Raul B. Rebak and published by . This book was released on 2020-01-06 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accident Tolerant Materials for Light Water Reactor Fuels provides a description of what an accident tolerant fuel is and the benefits and detriments of each concept. The book begins with an introduction to nuclear power as a renewable energy source and the current materials being utilized in light water reactors. It then moves on to discuss the recent advancements being made in accident tolerant fuels, reviewing the specific materials, their fabrication and implementation, environmental resistance, irradiation behavior, and licensing requirements. The book concludes with a look to the future of new power generation technologies. It is written for scientists and engineers working in the nuclear power industry and is the first comprehensive work on this topic. Introduces the fundamental description of accident tolerant fuel, including fabrication and implementation Describes both the benefits and detriments of the various Accident Tolerant Fuel concepts Includes information on the process of materials selection with a discussion of how and why specific materials were chosen, as well as why others failed
Download or read book Accident Tolerant Fuel Concepts for Light Water Reactors written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Advanced Fuels Campaign Light Water Reactor Accident Tolerant Fuel Performance Metrics written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The safe, reliable and economic operation of the nation's nuclear power reactor fleet has always been a top priority for the United States' nuclear industry. As a result, continual improvement of technology, including advanced materials and nuclear fuels, remains central to industry's success. Decades of research combined with continual operation have produced steady advancements in technology and yielded an extensive base of data, experience, and knowledge on light water reactor (LWR) fuel performance under both normal and accident conditions. In 2011, following the Great East Japan Earthquake, resulting tsunami, and subsequent damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex, enhancing the accident tolerance of LWRs became a topic of serious discussion. As a result of direction from the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) initiated an Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) Development program. The complex multiphysics behavior of LWR nuclear fuel makes defining specific material or design improvements difficult; as such, establishing qualitative attributes is critical to guide the design and development of fuels and cladding with enhanced accident tolerance. This report summarizes a common set of technical evaluation metrics to aid in the optimization and down selection of candidate designs. As used herein, "metrics" describe a set of technical bases by which multiple concepts can be fairly evaluated against a common baseline and against one another. Furthermore, this report describes a proposed technical evaluation methodology that can be applied to assess the ability of each concept to meet performance and safety goals relative to the current UO2 - zirconium alloy system and relative to one another. The resultant ranked evaluation can then inform concept down-selection, such that the most promising accident tolerant fuel design option(s) can continue to be developed for lead test rod or lead test assembly insertion into a commercial reactor within the desired timeframe (by 2022).
Download or read book Assessment of Reactivity Equivalence for Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuels in Light Water Reactors written by Nathan Michael George and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Conceptual Design and Economic Analysis of a Light Water Reactor Fuel Enricher written by and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study has been performed to evaluate the use of high-energy particle accelerators as nuclear fuel enrichers and nuclear fuel regenerators. This builds on ideas that have been current for many years. The new study has, however, explored some novel approaches that have not been examined before. A specific conceptual system chosen for more detailed study would stretch the energy available from natural uranium by a factor of about 3, reduce the separative work requirements by a factor of about 4, and reduce the volume of spent fuel to be stored by a factor of 2, compared to the current once-through light water reactor (LWR) fuel cycle. The concept avoids the need for chemical reprocessing of spent fuel, and would permit continued use of LWR's beyond the time when limitations on fuel resources might otherwise lead to their being phased out. This concept, which is called the Linear Accelerator Fuel Enricher/Regenerator, is therefore viewed as offering a practical means of stretching the use of the nuclear fuel resource in the framework of the existing light water reactor fuel cycle. This report describes and analyzes the concept referred to. An explanation of the principles underlying the concept is given. Particular attention is devoted to engineering feasibility, proliferation resistance, and economics. It is seen that the concept draws on only proven technology as regards bothaccelerator design and the fuel irradiation process, and is adapted to existing LWR designs with no change except in fuel-handling practices. A preliminary evaluation of radiation damage, coolant options, and power conversion systems is provided. Neutronic, thermal-hydraulic, and burnup calculations are presented. An analysis is made of fuel economy. Approximate costs of electric power produced using this concept are evaluated and discussed. Estimated development costs of commercialization are provided.
Download or read book Accident Tolerant Fuel Analysis written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Safety is central to the design, licensing, operation, and economics of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Consequently, the ability to better characterize and quantify safety margin holds the key to improved decision making about light water reactor design, operation, and plant life extension. A systematic approach to characterization of safety margins and the subsequent margins management options represents a vital input to the licensee and regulatory analysis and decision making that will be involved. The purpose of the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) Pathway research and development (R & D) is to support plant decisions for risk-informed margins management by improving economics and reliability, and sustaining safety, of current NPPs. Goals of the RISMC Pathway are twofold: (1) Develop and demonstrate a risk-assessment method coupled to safety margin quantification that can be used by NPP decision makers as part of their margin recovery strategies. (2) Create an advanced "RISMC toolkit" that enables more accurate representation of NPP safety margin. In order to carry out the R & D needed for the Pathway, the Idaho National Laboratory is performing a series of case studies that will explore methods- and tools-development issues, in addition to being of current interest in their own right. One such study is a comparative analysis of safety margins of plants using different fuel cladding types: specifically, a comparison between current-technology Zircaloy cladding and a notional "accident-tolerant" (e.g., SiC-based) cladding. The present report begins the process of applying capabilities that are still under development to the problem of assessing new fuel designs. The approach and lessons learned from this case study will be included in future Technical Basis Guides produced by the RISMC Pathway. These guides will be the mechanism for developing the specifications for RISMC tools and for defining how plant decision makers should propose and evaluate margin recovery strategies.
Download or read book Accident Tolerant Materials for Light Water Reactor Fuels written by Raul B. Rebak and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2020-01-10 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accident Tolerant Materials for Light Water Reactor Fuels provides a description of what an accident tolerant fuel is and the benefits and detriments of each concept. The book begins with an introduction to nuclear power as a renewable energy source and the current materials being utilized in light water reactors. It then moves on to discuss the recent advancements being made in accident tolerant fuels, reviewing the specific materials, their fabrication and implementation, environmental resistance, irradiation behavior, and licensing requirements. The book concludes with a look to the future of new power generation technologies. It is written for scientists and engineers working in the nuclear power industry and is the first comprehensive work on this topic. Introduces the fundamental description of accident tolerant fuel, including fabrication and implementation Describes both the benefits and detriments of the various Accident Tolerant Fuel concepts Includes information on the process of materials selection with a discussion of how and why specific materials were chosen, as well as why others failed
Download or read book Advanced Fuels Campaign Light Water Reactor Accident Tolerant Fuel Performance Metrics Executive Summary written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research and development (R & D) activities on advanced, higher performance Light Water Reactor (LWR) fuels have been ongoing for the last few years. Following the unfortunate March 2011 events at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, the R & D shifted toward enhancing the accident tolerance of LWRs. Qualitative attributes for fuels with enhanced accident tolerance, such as improved reaction kinetics with steam resulting in slower hydrogen generation rate, provide guidance for the design and development of fuels and cladding with enhanced accident tolerance. A common set of technical metrics should be established to aid in the optimization and down selection of candidate designs on a more quantitative basis. "Metrics" describe a set of technical bases by which multiple concepts can be fairly evaluated against a common baseline and against one another. This report describes a proposed technical evaluation methodology that can be applied to evaluate the ability of each concept to meet performance and safety goals relative to the current UO2 - zirconium alloy system and relative to one another. The resultant ranked evaluation can then inform concept down-selection, such that the most promising accident tolerant fuel design option(s) can continue to be developed toward qualification.
Download or read book Application of Advanced Fuel Concepts for Use in Innovative Pressurized Water Reactors written by Nathan Christopher Andrews and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work addresses several specific knowledge gaps that exist in the use of alternative fuel and cladding combinations in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) environment. In the switch from a UO2 with zirconium-based cladding to any other combination, there is a multitude of questions that need to be answered. This work examines three of these knowledge gaps: (1) the disposition of weapons-grade plutonium in thorium and silicon carbide cladding, (2) economics of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) claddings and (3) breeding of plutonium in uranium nitride fuel. Burning weapons-grade plutonium in a standard pressurized water reactor (PWR) using thoria as a fuel matrix has been compared to using urania. Two cladding options were considered: a 0.76 mm thick silicon carbide ceramic matrix composite (SiC CMC) and 0.57 mm thick standard Zircaloy cladding. A large benefit was found in using thoria compared to urania in terms of plutonium percentage and mass burned. A slightly smaller mass of plutonium is required in a core with SiC CMC cladding, due to its lower neutron absorption compared to Zircaloy. The thorium system was also better from a non-proliferation viewpoint, resulting in less fissile mass at discharge and more fissile mass burned over an assembly's lifetime. A limited safety comparison was made for two reactivity insertion accidents: (1) highest worth rod ejection accident (REA) and (2) main steam line break (MSLB). The MSLB accident demonstrated a safe value for the minimum departure from nucleate boiling ratio. The maximum enthalpy added to the fuel during the REA was also below current regulatory limits for PWRs. This indicates that the more negative moderator temperature coefficients of thoria-plutonia and urania-plutonia fuel, compared to a typical PWR design, were not limiting. For an ATF cladding to replace zirconium alloys, it must be economically viable by having similar fuel cycle costs to today's materials. Four proposed materials are examined: stainless steel (SS), FeCrAl alloy, molybdenum (Mo) and SiC CMC, each having its own development time and costs. The chosen cladding thicknesses were dependent on strength and manufacturing constraints. It was found that all options may end up requiring higher enrichment than zirconium-based claddings for the same fuel cycle length. If the present value of avoiding a reactor accident with a large radioactivity release is estimated using past experience for LWR large accidents and if it is assumed that ATF cladding is able to prevent such release, there is a definite net economic benefit relative to typical Zircaloy cladding only in using SiC, since it only results in a small fuel cycle cost increase. There is only a marginal benefit in using SiC to prevent a core-only loss without radioactivity release (TMI-type) accident and a large loss using metallic ATF concepts. The thermal hydraulic and neutronic feasibility of a nitride fueled pressurized water reactor (PWR) breeder design were examined. Because of its higher fuel density, nitride fuel would be preferable to traditional oxide fuel in attempting to achieve breeding in a PWR. The design chosen uses large hexagonal assemblies with 14 inner seed pin rows and 4 outer blanket pin rows. In this design, reactor grade plutonium of 12.75 wtHM was used as fuel. Nitride was also simulated as being 100% N-15, to limit neutronic penalties and C-14 production. The as specified assembly model only achieved a fissile inventory ratio (FIR) value above 1.0 when the thimble regions were assumed to be voided, which lowers the H/HM ratio in the assembly. This led to FIR values above 1.0 for the oxide, 85% theoretical density nitride (N85) and 95% theoretical density nitride (N95). All were at an FIR of 1.03 at 35 MWd/kgHM. However, the single batch discharge burnup of the voided assembly in MWd/kgHM was 32.2 for N95, 24.5 for N85, while only 15.6 for the oxide.
Download or read book Light Water Reactor Accident Tolerant Fuels Irradiation Testing written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) experiments is to test novel fuel and cladding concepts designed to replace the current zirconium alloy uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel system. The objective of this Research and Development (R & D) is to develop novel ATF concepts that will be able to withstand loss of active cooling in the reactor core for a considerably longer time period than the current fuel system while maintaining or improving the fuel performance during normal operations, operational transients, design basis, and beyond design basis events. It was necessary to design, analyze, and fabricate drop-in capsules to meet the requirements for testing under prototypic LWR temperatures in Idaho National Laboratory's Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). Three industry led teams and one DOE team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory provided fuel rodlet samples for their new concepts for ATR insertion in 2015. As-built projected temperature calculations were performed on the ATF capsules using the BISON fuel performance code. BISON is an application of INL's Multi-physics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), which is a massively parallel finite element based framework used to solve systems of fully coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. Both 2D and 3D models were set up to examine cladding and fuel performance.
Download or read book Nuclear Fuel Safety Criteria written by OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents brief descriptions of 20 fuel-related safety criteria along with both the rationale for having such criteria and possible new design and operational issues which could have an effect on them.
Download or read book The Linear Reactivity Model for Nuclear Fuel Management written by M. J. Driscoll and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Linear Reactivity Model (LRM) is a simple nuclear fuel management model that comes with a diskette containing three programs. Consisting of a collection of algorithms and methods, the LRM describes complex core behavior, but it is simpler than the complex programs developed for design calculations. This makes the LRM particularly useful as a teaching tool to explain the basic principles of nuclear fuel management. The LRM mainly focuses on the pressurized water reactor, but it is also directly applicable to the boiling water reactor. Application of the LRM to the CANDU reactor is also covered.
Download or read book Thorium Fuel Cycle written by International Atomic Energy Agency and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a critical review of the thorium fuel cycle: potential benefits and challenges in the thorium fuel cycle, mainly based on the latest developments at the front end of the fuel cycle, applying thorium fuel cycle options, and at the back end of the thorium fuel cycle.
Download or read book Nuclear Power written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-02-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The construction of nuclear power plants in the United States is stopping, as regulators, reactor manufacturers, and operators sort out a host of technical and institutional problems. This volume summarizes the status of nuclear power, analyzes the obstacles to resumption of construction of nuclear plants, and describes and evaluates the technological alternatives for safer, more economical reactors. Topics covered include: Institutional issues-including regulatory practices at the federal and state levels, the growing trends toward greater competition in the generation of electricity, and nuclear and nonnuclear generation options. Critical evaluation of advanced reactors-covering attributes such as cost, construction time, safety, development status, and fuel cycles. Finally, three alternative federal research and development programs are presented.
Download or read book Nuclear Reactor Analysis written by James J. Duderstadt and published by Wiley. This book was released on 1991-01-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic textbook for an introductory course in nuclear reactor analysis that introduces the nuclear engineering student to the basic scientific principles of nuclear fission chain reactions and lays a foundation for the subsequent application of these principles to the nuclear design and analysis of reactor cores. This text introduces the student to the fundamental principles governing nuclear fission chain reactions in a manner that renders the transition to practical nuclear reactor design methods most natural. The authors stress throughout the very close interplay between the nuclear analysis of a reactor core and those nonnuclear aspects of core analysis, such as thermal-hydraulics or materials studies, which play a major role in determining a reactor design.
