Neutronic evaluation of CANDU-6 core using reprocessed fuels

Authors

  • Clarysson Alberto Mello da Silva Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Carlos Eduardo Velasquez Cabrera Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Michel Cleberson Bernardo de Almeida Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Rochkhudon Batista de Faria Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Claubia Pereira Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15392/bjrs.v8i3.1219

Keywords:

CANDU reactor, DUPIC cycle, AIROX, OREOX, MCNPX 2.6.0

Abstract

The spent fuel from a PWR still contains some amount of fissile materials depending on their initial enrichment and the burnup. Thus, spent fuel from PWRs containing about 1.5% of fissile material could be used as fuel for CANDU reactors after some fission products are removed from it. Thus, an important proposal is the DUPIC cycle, where spent fuels from a PWR are packaged into a CANDU fuel bundle using mechanical reprocessing but without the need of chemical reprocessing. When it is refueled with reprocessed fuel, the reactivity of the system increases, and this behavior may affect the safety parameters of the reactor. Therefore, this work studies the neutronic parameters of two reprocessing fuel techniques: AIROX and OREOX, which are evaluated for two different cores configuration. The first one considers heavy water as a moderator and coolant. The second one considers heavy water and light water as moderator and coolant respectively. These studies evaluate the core behavior based on the different number of reprocessed fuels channels and compare them with the reference core. To perform the simulation the MCNPX was used to calculate the effective multiplication factor, fuel temperature coefficient of reactivity, void reactivity coefficient, and neutron flux, which were evaluated at steady state condition for the different cases. The results show that the presence of parasitic absorbers in the reprocessed fuels hardens the neutron spectrum. This behavior provokes an increase in the core reactivity, in the fuel temperature coefficient and in the void reactivity coefficient. Among these parameters, the use of light water reduces the core reactivity but do not improve the fuel temperature coefficient and the void reactivity coefficient.

  

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Clarysson Alberto Mello da Silva, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

  

Carlos Eduardo Velasquez Cabrera, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

  

Michel Cleberson Bernardo de Almeida, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

  

Rochkhudon Batista de Faria, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

  

Claubia Pereira, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

  

References

IAEA – International Atomic Energy Angency. Nuclear power reactor in the world. Reference Data Series No. 2, IAEA, Vienna, 2018.

KO, W.I., GAO, F., 2012. Economic analysis of different nuclear fuel cycle options. Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations, v. 2012, p. 1-10, 2012.

PARK, B. H.; GAO, F.; KWON, E.; KO, W. I. Comparative study of different nuclear fuel cycle options: quantitative analysis on material flow. Energy Policy, v. 39, p. 6916-6924, 2011.

LEE J.; RYU H.; PARK G.; SONG K. Recent progress on the DUPIC fuel fabrication technology at KAERI, In: ATALANTE 2008 – NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLES FOR A SUSTAINABLE, 2008, Montpellier. Proceedings of Atalante 2008, 2008, p. 1-4.

YANG, M. S.; CHOI, H.; JEONG, C. J.; SONG, K. C.; LEE, J. W.; PARK, G. I.; KIM, H. D.; KO, W. I.; PARK, J. J.; KIM, K. H.; LEE, H. H.; JOO HWAN PARK, J. H. The status and prospect of DUPIC fuel technology. Nuclear Engineering and Technology, v. 38, p. 359-374, 2006.

KO, W. I., KIM, H. D. Analysis of nuclear proliferation resistance of DUPIC fuel cycle. Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, v. 38, p. 757-765, 2001.

HONG, J.S.; KIM, H. D.; YANG, M. S.; PARK, H. S.; MENLOVE, H.; ABOU-SAHARA, A.; ALSTON, W. Safeguards experience on the DUPIC fuel cycle process. LANL Report LA-UR-01-0936. New Mexico: LANL, 2001. 9p.

KANG, K. H.; SONG, K. C.; PARK, H. S.; MOON, J. S.; YANG, M. S. 2000. Fabrication of simulated DUPIC fuel. Metals and Materials, v. 6, p. 583-588, 2012.

SULLIVAN, J.D.; RYZ, M.A.; LEE, J.W. Aecl's Progress in DUPIC Fuel Development. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), v. 31, p. 300-306, 1997.

KANG, J.; SUZUKI, A. Analysis on DUPIC Fuel Cycle in Aspect of Overall Radioative Waste Management. Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials, v. 4, p. 19-27, 1997.

TUMINI, L. L. P.; FLORIDO, P.C.; SBAFFONI, M. M.; ABBATE, M. J.; MAI, L. A.; MAIORINO, J. R. Study of a TANDEM fuel cycle between a Brazilian PWR (Angra-I) and Argentinean CANDU (Embalse). Annals of Nuclear Energy, v. 22, p. 1-10, 1995.

SULLIVAN J.D.; COX D.S. Aecl’s progress in developing the DUPIC fuel fabrication process, In: 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CANDU FUEL, 1995, Pembroke. Proceedings of 4th International Conference on CANDU Fuel, Canadian Nuclear Society, 1995, p. 300-310.

SILVA, C. A. M.; PEREIRA, C.; VELOSO, M. A. F.; GALLARDO, S.; VERDÚ, G. Analysis of DUPIC fuel cycle using the MCNPX code, In: TOP FUEL 2015 - REACTOR FUEL PERFORMANCE, 2015, Zurich. Proceedings of Top Fuel 2015, European Nuclear Society, 2015. p. 85-94.

POUNDERS, J. M.; RAHNEMA, F.; SERGHIUTA, D.; THOLAMMAKKIL, J. 2011. A 3d stylized half-core CANDU benchmark problem. Annals of Nuclear Energy, v. 38, p. 876-896, 2011.

PARK C.J., CHOI H. Benchmarking WIMS/RFSP against Measurement Data of Wolsong Nuclear Power Plants. In: JOINT INTERNATIONAL TOPICAL MEETING ON MATHEMATICAL AND SUPERCOMPUTING IN NUCLEAR APPLICATIONS, 2007, Monterey. Proceedings of a Meeting Held. American Nuclear Society, 2007. p. 2-11.

CHOI, H.; ROH, G.; PARK, D. Benchmarking WIMS/RFSP against measurement data II: Wolsong Nuclear Power Plants 2, Nuclear Science and Engineering, v. 150, p. 37-55, 2005.

GARLAND, W. J. The Essential CANDU, 1st ed. Canada: UNENE. Hamilton, 2014.

LEE, J. W.; KIM, W. K.; LEE, J. W.; PARK, G. I.; YANG, M. S.; SONG, K. C. Remote fabrication of DUPIC fuel pellets in a hot cell under quality assurance program. Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, v. 44, p. 597-606, 2007.

SULLIVAN, J. D.; COX, D.S., 1997. Aecl’s progress in developing the DUPIC fuel fabrication process. AECL Report CA9800574. Toronto: AECL, 1997. 10p.

RADULESCU, G.; WAGNER, J. C. Burn-up Credit Criticality Benchmark. Phase VII - UO2 Fuel: Study of Spent Fuel Compositions for Long-Term Disposal. NEA Report 6998, Issy-les-Moulineaux: NEA, 2012. 182p.

MAJUMDAR, D.; JAHSHAN, S. N.; ALLISON, C. M.; KUAN, P.; THOMAS, T. R. Re-cycling of nuclear spent fuel with AIROX processing. DOE Report 10423, Idaho: DOE, 1992. 68p.

PARENT, E. Nuclear Fuel Cycles for Mid-Century Deployment - Master Thesis, Massachusetts: Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Engineering, 2003.

ENDF Data - LANL. ENDF/B-VII.1 Incident-Neutron Data. Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. Available at: <https://t2.lanl.gov/nis/data/endf/endfvii.1-n.html>. Last accessed: 15 November 2019.

MACFARLANE, R. E.; MUIR, D. W.; BOICOURT, R. M.; KAHLER, A. C. NJOY - The NJOY nuclear data processing system, version 2012. Los Alamos National Laboratory: Los Alamos, 2012. 810p.

HENDRICKS, J. S.; MCKINNEY, G. W.; FENSIN, M. L.; JAMES, M. R.; JOHNS, R. C.; DURKEE, J. W.; FINCH, J. P.; PELOWITZ, D. B.; WATERS, L. S.; JOHNSON, M. W. MCNPX user’s manual, version 2.6.0. Los Alamos National Laboratory: Los Alamos, 2008. 636p.

DUDERSTADT, J. J.; HAMILTON, L. J. Nuclear Reactor Analysis, 1st ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976.

ROUBEN, B. Reactivity Coefficients - Nuclear Reactor Analysis. Hamilton: McMaster University, 2015

TALEBI, F.; MARLEAU, G.; KOCLAS, J. A model for coolant void reactivity evaluation in assemblies of CANDU cells. Annals of Nuclear Energy, v. 33, p. 975–983, 2006.

CANDU Owners Group Inc. Reactor Physics - Science and Reactor Fundamentals. CNSC training course, Toronto: CANTEACH Project, 2003.

GROH, J. L. Nuclear Theory II (Kinetics). Toronto: CANTEACH Document, Chulalongkorn University, 1996.

MOHAMED, N. M. A. Direct reuse of spent nuclear fuel. Nuclear Engineering and Design, v. 278, p. 182–189, 2017.

Downloads

Published

2020-09-27

How to Cite

Silva, C. A. M. da, Cabrera, C. E. V., Almeida, M. C. B. de, Faria, R. B. de, & Pereira, C. (2020). Neutronic evaluation of CANDU-6 core using reprocessed fuels. Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.15392/bjrs.v8i3.1219

Issue

Section

Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

<< < 1 2