TY - GEN
T1 - Hcsmr fuel assembly computations with apollo2 and Tripoli-4® codes
AU - Janin, D.
AU - Seidl, M.
AU - Soldevila, M.
AU - Douce, S.
AU - Brun, E.
AU - Damian, F.
AU - Poinot, C.
AU - Macian, R.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Light Water Reactors (LWR) could become more sustainable and benefit from improved economics with an enhanced ability to convert 238U into 239Pu. A reduced moderation ratio enables LWRs to increase 238U conversion. It can be obtained by reducing the pitch between fuel rods. Using MOX fuel in an undermoderated fuel assembly would improve LWRs' 238U conversion even more. On the other hand, it could also lead to positive void coefficient situations. Small cores, which have a higher neutron leakage rate than that of standard PWRs, present advantages compared to large cores in preventing this. Together with renewed interest in small modular reactors (SMRs) for industrial and strategic purpose, this led to investigation of the highconversion small modular reactor (HCSMR) concept. The introduction of fertile fuel rods-depleted uranium at 0.2 % U235 enrichment-within a MOX fuel assembly by mixing MOX and fertile fuel rods was studied to keep the void coefficient negative. This led to design heterogeneities, which are challenging for traditional simulation techniques. This paper reviews the neutronphysics models developed to compute HCSMR FAs. The comparison between deterministic-APOLLO2-and stochastic-Tripoli-4®-computation methods shows good accuracy of the model used with CEA reference simulation options. This validation work is a first step towards future work aimed at designing and optimizing the HCSMR concept.
AB - Light Water Reactors (LWR) could become more sustainable and benefit from improved economics with an enhanced ability to convert 238U into 239Pu. A reduced moderation ratio enables LWRs to increase 238U conversion. It can be obtained by reducing the pitch between fuel rods. Using MOX fuel in an undermoderated fuel assembly would improve LWRs' 238U conversion even more. On the other hand, it could also lead to positive void coefficient situations. Small cores, which have a higher neutron leakage rate than that of standard PWRs, present advantages compared to large cores in preventing this. Together with renewed interest in small modular reactors (SMRs) for industrial and strategic purpose, this led to investigation of the highconversion small modular reactor (HCSMR) concept. The introduction of fertile fuel rods-depleted uranium at 0.2 % U235 enrichment-within a MOX fuel assembly by mixing MOX and fertile fuel rods was studied to keep the void coefficient negative. This led to design heterogeneities, which are challenging for traditional simulation techniques. This paper reviews the neutronphysics models developed to compute HCSMR FAs. The comparison between deterministic-APOLLO2-and stochastic-Tripoli-4®-computation methods shows good accuracy of the model used with CEA reference simulation options. This validation work is a first step towards future work aimed at designing and optimizing the HCSMR concept.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84986238376&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84986238376
T3 - International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, ICAPP 2016
SP - 577
EP - 583
BT - International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, ICAPP 2016
PB - American Nuclear Society
T2 - 2016 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, ICAPP 2016
Y2 - 17 April 2016 through 20 April 2016
ER -