Premium
Monte Carlo simulation of dispersed coated particles in accident tolerant fuel for innovative nuclear reactors
Author(s) -
Wu Yuxuan,
Liu Shichang,
Li Mancang,
Xiao Peng,
Wang Lianjie,
Chen Yixue
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.6127
Subject(s) - nuclear engineering , burnup , monte carlo method , materials science , nuclear fuel , light water reactor , particle (ecology) , neutron , neutron capture , spent nuclear fuel , computer science , nuclear physics , physics , engineering , mathematics , statistics , oceanography , geology
Summary The dispersed coated particles fuel is one of the most attractive fuel designs for innovative nuclear reactors, such as high temperature gas‐cooled reactors (HTGRs) and the accident tolerant fuel (ATF) in light water reactor (LWR). Monte Carlo (MC) method has unique advantages in the neutron transport simulation in dispersed coated particles fuel, due to its flexible and precise energy and angular treatments. Fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel is one of the ATF designs using dispersed coated particles. The FCM fuel poses a challenge on MC method, due to its features of high packing fraction (PF) and polytype particles design. The burnup calculation of FCM fuel is another significant problem, due to the existence of large number of particle fuel. In the paper, the explicit modeling method with discrete element method (DEM) and generalized chord‐length sampling (CLS) method was implemented in MC code RMC for polytype particles design with high PF. The quantitative correction method was also implemented to preserve the precise PF. The typical FCM and HTGR cases were used, and the results show that the DEM and CLS methods were consistent and can treat different kinds of particles effectively. These new features and enhancements can help RMC to better simulate different kinds of ATF designs of innovative nuclear reactors with dispersed coated particles.