Design and analysis of 19 pin annular fuel rod cluster for pressure tube type boiling water reactor

An assessment of 33 pin annular fuel rod cluster has been carried out previously for possible use in a pressure tube type boiling water reactor. Despite the benefits such as negative coolant void reactivity and larger heat transfer area, the 33 pin annular fuel rod cluster is having lower discharge burn up as compared to solid fuel rod cluster when all other parameters are kept the same. The power rating of this design cannot be increased beyond 20% of the corresponding solid fuel rod cluster. The limitation on the power is not due to physics parameters rather it comes from the thermal hydraulics side. In order to increase power rating of the annular fuel cluster, keeping same pressure tube diameter, the pin diameter was increased, achieving larger inside flow area. However, this reduces the number of annular fuel rods. In spite of this, the power of the annular fuel cluster can be increased by 30% compared to the solid fuel rod cluster. This makes the nineteen pin annular fuel rod cluster a suitable option to extract more power without any major changes in the existing design of the fuel. In the present study reactor physics and thermal hydraulic analysis carried out with different annular fuel rod cluster geometry is reported in detail.