Open Access350 MW(t) design fuel cycle selection. Revision 1
Author(s) -
R.K. Lane,
W. Lefler,
G.W. Shirley
Publication year - 1986
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/454012
Subject(s) - fuel cycle , margin (machine learning) , power (physics) , conceptual design , selection (genetic algorithm) , power density , nuclear engineering , environmental science , process engineering , engineering , computer science , mechanical engineering , thermodynamics , physics , machine learning , artificial intelligence
This document discusses the results of this evaluation and a recommendation to retain the graded fuel cycle in which one-half of the fuel elements are exchanged at each refueling. This recommendation is based on the better performance of the graded cycle relative to the evaluation criteria of both economics and control margin. A choice to retain the graded cycle and a power density of 5.9 MW/m{sup 3} for the upcoming conceptual design phase was deemed prudent for the following reasons: the graded cycle has significantly better economics, and essentially the same expected availability factor as the batch design, when both are evaluated against the same requirements, including water ingress; and the reduction in maximum fuel pin power peaking in the batch design compared to the graded cycle is only a few percent and gas hot streaks are not improved by changing to a batch cycle. The preliminary 2-D power distribution studies for both designs showed that maximum fuel pin power peaking, particularly near the inner reflector, was high for both designs and nearly the same in magnitude. 10 figs., 9 tabs