Thermal–hydraulicfeasibilityanalysisonupratingtheHTR–PMOriginalResearchArticle

InordertomeetenergydemandinChina,thehightemperaturegas-cooledreactor–pebble-bedmodule(HTR–PM)isbeingdeveloped.Itadoptsatwo-zonecore,inwhichgraphiteballsareloadedinthecentralzoneandtheouterpartisfuelballzone,andcouplewithasteamcycle.Outerdiameterofthereactorcoreis4.0mandheightofthecoreis9.43m.Theheliuminletandoutlettemperatureare250and750°C,respectively.Thereactorthermalpoweris380MW.PreliminarystudiesshowthattheHTR–PMisfeasibletechnologicallyandeconomically.InordertoincreasethereactorthermalpoweroftheHTR–PM,someeffortshavebeenmade.Theseincludeincreasingtheheightofreactorcore,optimizingthethicknessoffuelzoneandbetterselectionoftheschemeofcentralgraphitezone,etc.Basicdesignconceptsandthermal–hydraulicparametersoftheHTR–PMaregiven.Measurestoincreasethethermalpowerareintroduced.Thermal–hydraulicanalysisresultsarepresented.Theresultsshowthat,fromtheviewpointofthermal–hydraulics,itispossibletoincreasethereactorpower.