A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable Absorber
Reducing critical boron concentration in a commercial pressurized water reactor core offers many advantages in view of safety and economics. This paper presents a preliminary investigation of a reduced-boron pressurized water reactor core to achieve a clearly negative moderator temperature coefficie...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2016-04-01
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| Series: | Nuclear Engineering and Technology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1738573316000061 |
| _version_ | 1818528790982164480 |
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| author | Hwanyeal Yu Mohd-Syukri Yahya Yonghee Kim |
| author_facet | Hwanyeal Yu Mohd-Syukri Yahya Yonghee Kim |
| author_sort | Hwanyeal Yu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reducing critical boron concentration in a commercial pressurized water reactor core offers many advantages in view of safety and economics. This paper presents a preliminary investigation of a reduced-boron pressurized water reactor core to achieve a clearly negative moderator temperature coefficient at hot zero power using the newly-proposed “Burnable absorber-Integrated Guide Thimble” (BigT) absorbers. The reference core is based on a commercial OPR1000 equilibrium configuration. The reduced-boron ORP1000 configuration was determined by simply replacing commercial gadolinia-based burnable absorbers with the optimized BigT-loaded design. The equilibrium cores in this study were directly searched via repetitive Monte Carlo depletion calculations until convergence. The results demonstrate that, with the same fuel management scheme as in the reference core, application of the BigT absorbers can effectively reduce the critical boron concentration at the beginning of cycle by about 65 ppm. More crucially, the analyses indicate promising potential of the reduced-boron OPR1000 core with the BigT absorbers, as its moderator temperature coefficient at the beginning of cycle is clearly more negative and all other vital neutronic parameters are within practical safety limits. All simulations were completed using the Monte Carlo Serpent code with the ENDF/B-VII.0 library. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T06:54:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8c4ae08232f640cc98bd17531f014ab5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1738-5733 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T06:54:36Z |
| publishDate | 2016-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nuclear Engineering and Technology |
| spelling | doaj.art-8c4ae08232f640cc98bd17531f014ab52022-12-22T01:16:48ZengElsevierNuclear Engineering and Technology1738-57332016-04-0148231832910.1016/j.net.2015.12.010A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable AbsorberHwanyeal YuMohd-Syukri YahyaYonghee KimReducing critical boron concentration in a commercial pressurized water reactor core offers many advantages in view of safety and economics. This paper presents a preliminary investigation of a reduced-boron pressurized water reactor core to achieve a clearly negative moderator temperature coefficient at hot zero power using the newly-proposed “Burnable absorber-Integrated Guide Thimble” (BigT) absorbers. The reference core is based on a commercial OPR1000 equilibrium configuration. The reduced-boron ORP1000 configuration was determined by simply replacing commercial gadolinia-based burnable absorbers with the optimized BigT-loaded design. The equilibrium cores in this study were directly searched via repetitive Monte Carlo depletion calculations until convergence. The results demonstrate that, with the same fuel management scheme as in the reference core, application of the BigT absorbers can effectively reduce the critical boron concentration at the beginning of cycle by about 65 ppm. More crucially, the analyses indicate promising potential of the reduced-boron OPR1000 core with the BigT absorbers, as its moderator temperature coefficient at the beginning of cycle is clearly more negative and all other vital neutronic parameters are within practical safety limits. All simulations were completed using the Monte Carlo Serpent code with the ENDF/B-VII.0 library.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1738573316000061BigT Burnable AbsorberCritical Boron ConcentrationFuel AssemblyOPR1000PWR Type ReactorSerpent |
| spellingShingle | Hwanyeal Yu Mohd-Syukri Yahya Yonghee Kim A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable Absorber Nuclear Engineering and Technology BigT Burnable Absorber Critical Boron Concentration Fuel Assembly OPR1000 PWR Type Reactor Serpent |
| title | A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable Absorber |
| title_full | A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable Absorber |
| title_fullStr | A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable Absorber |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable Absorber |
| title_short | A Reduced-Boron OPR1000 Core Based on the BigT Burnable Absorber |
| title_sort | reduced boron opr1000 core based on the bigt burnable absorber |
| topic | BigT Burnable Absorber Critical Boron Concentration Fuel Assembly OPR1000 PWR Type Reactor Serpent |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1738573316000061 |
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