Author/Authors :
MagnusMori، نويسنده , , WernerMaschek، نويسنده , , AndreiRineiski، نويسنده ,
Abstract :
Lightwaterreactor(LWR)technologyisnowadaysthemostsuccessfulcommercialapplicationoffissionreactorsfortheproductionofelectricity.However,inthenextfewyears,nuclearindustrywillhavetofacenewanddemandingchallenges:theneedforsustainableandcheapsourcesofenergy,theneedforpublicacceptance,theneedforevenhighersafetystandards,theneedtominimizethewasteproductionareonlyafewexamples.Itisfortheseveryreasonsthatafewnextgenerationnuclearreactorconceptswereselectedforextensiveresearchanddevelopment;supercriticalwaterreactorsareamongthem.Theuseofasupercriticalcoolantwouldallowforhigherthermalefficienciesandamorecompactplantdesign,sincesteamgenerators,orsteamseparatorsanddrierswouldnotbeneeded,henceachievingabettereconomy.Moreover,becauseofthehighheatcapacityofsupercriticalwater,relativelylesscoolantwouldbeneededtorefrigeratethereactor,thereforethefeasibilitytodesignawatercooledfastreactor:thesupercriticalwaterfastreactor(SCFR).Thissystempresentsuniquefeaturescombiningwell-knownfastandlightwaterreactorcharacteristicsinonedesign(e.g.atendencytoapositivevoidreactivitycoefficienttogetherwithlossofcoolantaccident–LOCAsasadesignbasisaccident).ThecoreisinfactloadedwithhighlyenrichedMOXfuel(averageplutoniumcontentof∼23%),andpresentsapeculiarandsignificantgeometricalandmaterialheterogeneity(useofradialandaxialblankets,solidmoderatorlayers,12differentenrichmentzones).Thesafetyanalysisofthisverycomplexcorelayout,togetherwiththeoptimizationofthevoidreactivityeffectthroughcoredesign,isthemainobjectiveofthiswork.
