Neutronic Analysis of Accident-Tolerant Cladding Materials in 3D Full Core BEAVRS PWR Benchmark Using OpenMC Code

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011, the performance of nuclear fuel during accidents became a matter of great concern. To address this, a new type of fuel technology called accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) has been developed with the goal of enhancing the ability of light water reactor...

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Published inInternational journal of energy research Vol. 2024; pp. 1 - 22
Main Authors Alamri, Khalid A., Alqahtani, Meshari M., Alomari, Abdullah S., Almarshad, Abdullah I.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bognor Regis Wiley 28.05.2024
Hindawi Limited
Subjects
Accident conditions
Accidents
Austenitic stainless steels
Boron
Control rods
Corrosion
Ferrous alloys
Fines & penalties
Fuel technology
Hydrogen
Hydrogen production
Light water reactors
Neutron flux
Nuclear accidents
Nuclear accidents & safety
Nuclear fuel elements
Nuclear fuels
Nuclear reactors
Oxidation
Performance evaluation
Plutonium
Pressurized water reactors
Radiation
Reactor cores
Reactors
Stainless steel
Temperature
Thermal neutrons
Thermomechanical properties
Zircaloys (trademark)
Zirconium alloys
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Summary:After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011, the performance of nuclear fuel during accidents became a matter of great concern. To address this, a new type of fuel technology called accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) has been developed with the goal of enhancing the ability of light water reactors (LWRs) to withstand severe accident conditions. Iron-based alloys have been suggested as potential candidates for fuel cladding due to their favourable thermomechanical properties, lower reactivity with steam, and lower hydrogen generation. This study evaluates the neutronic performance of C26M (a 2nd generation nuclear grade FeCrAl alloy), APMT™, 310SS, and 304SS cladding materials by comparing them with Zircaloy-4 cladding in a 3D PWR core at the beginning of the cycle (BOC) using OpenMC code. The results revealed that the neutronic penalty varied for different alternative cladding materials where C26M exhibited the lowest neutronic penalty value of -12551 pcm, while 310SS demonstrated the highest with a value of -17855 pcm. Additionally, important parameters in the reactor core such as neutron spectrum, reactivity coefficients, boron worth, control rod bank worth, power distribution, and radial thermal neutron flux distribution are evaluated and discussed. The analysis results showed that C26M provided a significantly higher level of neutronic performance compared to APMT™, 304SS, and 310SS. Although this study primarily focused on the neutronic performance of PWRs at BOC, future research should encompass fuel depletion analysis to delve deeper into the potential of alternative cladding materials.
ISSN:0363-907X
1099-114X
DOI:10.1155/2024/8811265