Evaluation of Concepts for Mulitiple Application Thermal Reactor for Irradiation eXperiments (MATRIX)

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is a high power density test reactor specializing in fuel and materials irradiation. For more than 45 years, the ATR has provided irradiations of materials and fuels testing along with radioisotope production. Originally operated primarily in support of the Offcie of Naval Reactors (NR), the mission has gradually expanded to cater to other customers, such as the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), private industry, and universities. Unforeseen circumstances may lead to the decommissioning of ATR, thus leaving the U.S. Government without a large-scale materials irradiation capability to meet the needs of its nuclear energy and naval reactor missions. In anticipation of this possibility, work was performed under the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program to investigate test reactor concepts that could satisfy the current missions of the ATR along with an expanded set of secondary missions. This work can be viewed as an update to a project from the 1990’s called the Broad Application Test Reactor (BATR). In FY 2012, a survey of anticipated customer needs was performed, followed by analysis of the original BATR concepts with fuel changed to low-enriched uranium. Departing from these original BATR designs, four concepts were identified for further analysis in FY2013. The project informally adopted the acronym MATRIX (Multiple-Application Thermal Reactor for Irradiation eXperiments). This report discusses analysis of the four MATRIX concepts along with a number of variations on these main concepts. Designs were evaluated based on their satisfaction of anticipated customer requirements and the “Cylindrical” variant was selected for further analysis of options. This downselection should be considered preliminary and the backup alternatives should include the other three main designs. The baseline Cylindrical MATRIX design is expected to be capable of higher burnup than the ATR (or longer cycle length given a particular batch scheme). The volume of test space in IPTs is larger in MATRIX than in ATR with comparable magnitude of neutron flux. In addition to the IPTs, the Cylindrical MATRIX concept features test spaces at the centers of fuel assemblies where very high fast flux can be achieved. This magnitude of fast flux is similar to that achieved in the ATR A-positions, however, the available volume having these conditions is greater in the MATRIX design than in the ATR. From the analyses performed in this work, it appears that the Cylindrical MATRIX design can be designed to meet the anticipated needs of the ATR replacement reactor. However, this statement must be qualified by acknowledging that this design is quite immature, and therefore any requirements currently met must be re-evaluated as the design matures. Also, some of the requirements were not strictly met, but are believed to be achievable once features to be added later are designed

A COMPARISON OF PEBBLE MIXING AND DEPLETION ALGORITHMS USED IN PEBBLE-BED REACTOR EQUILIBRIUM CYCLE SIMULATION

Recirculating pebble-bed reactors are distinguished from all other reactor types by the downward movement through and reinsertion of fuel into the core during operation. Core simulators must account for this movement and mixing in order to capture the physics of the equilibrium cycle core. VSOP and PEBBED are two codes used to perform such simulations, but they do so using different methods. In this study, a simplified pebble-bed core with a specified flux profile and cross sections is used as the model for conducting analyses of two types of burnup schemes. The differences between the codes are described and related to the differences observed in the nuclide densities in pebbles discharged from the core. Differences in the methods for computing fission product buildup and average number densities lead to significant differences in the computed core power and eigenvalue. These test models provide a key component of an overall equilibrium cycle benchmark involving neutron transport, cross section generation, and fuel circulation

A 2D Benchmark for the Verification of the PEBBED Code

A new benchmarking concept is presented for verifying the PEBBED 3D multigroup finite difference/nodal diffusion code with application to pebble bed modular reactors (PBMRs). The key idea is to perform convergence acceleration, also called extrapolation to zero discretization, of a basic finite difference numerical algorithm to give extremely high accuracy. The method is first demonstrated on a 1D cylindrical shell and then on an r,8 wedge where the order of the second order finite difference scheme is confirmed to four places

Advanced Core Design And Fuel Management For Pebble-Bed Reactors

A method for designing and optimizing recirculating pebble-bed reactor cores is presented. At the heart of the method is a new reactor physics computer code, PEBBED, which accurately and efficiently computes the neutronic and material properties of the asymptotic (equilibrium) fuel cycle. This core state is shown to be unique for a given core geometry, power level, discharge burnup, and fuel circulation policy. Fuel circulation in the pebble-bed can be described in terms of a few well?defined parameters and expressed as a recirculation matrix. The implementation of a few heat?transfer relations suitable for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors allows for the rapid estimation of thermal properties critical for safe operation. Thus, modeling and design optimization of a given pebble-bed core can be performed quickly and efficiently via the manipulation of a limited number key parameters. Automation of the optimization process is achieved by manipulation of these parameters using a genetic algorithm. The end result is an economical, passively safe, proliferation-resistant nuclear power plant

REACTOR PRESSURE VESSEL TEMPERATURE ANALYSIS OF CANDIDATE VERY HIGH TEMPERATURE REACTOR DESIGNS

Analyses were performed to determine maximum temperatures in the reactor pressure vessel for two potential Very-High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) designs during normal operation and during a depressurized conduction cooldown accident. The purpose of the analyses was to aid in the determination of appropriate reactor vessel materials for the VHTR. The designs evaluated utilized both prismatic and pebble-bed cores that generated 600 MW of thermal power. Calculations were performed for fluid outlet temperatures of 900 and 950 °C, corresponding to the expected range for the VHTR. The analyses were performed using the RELAP5-3D and PEBBED-THERMIX computer codes. Results of the calculations were compared with preliminary temperature limits derived from the ASME pressure vessel code. Because PEBBED-THERMIX has not been extensively validated, confirmatory calculations were also performed with RELAP5-3D for the pebble-bed design. During normal operation, the predicted axial profiles in reactor vessel temperature were similar with both codes and the predicted maximum values were within 2 °C. The trends of the calculated vessel temperatures were similar during the depressurized conduction cooldown accident. The maximum value predicted with RELAP5-3D during the depressurized conduction cooldown accident was about 40 °C higher than that predicted with PEBBED. This agreement is considered reasonable based on the expected uncertainty in either calculation. The differences between the PEBBED and RELAP5-3D calculations were not large enough to affect conclusions concerning comparisons between calculated and allowed maximum temperatures during normal operation and the depressurized conduction cooldown accident

Matrix Formulation of Pebble Circulation in the PEBBED Code

The PEBBED technique provides a foundation for equilibrium fuel-cycle analysis and optimization in pebble-bed cores in which the fuel elements are continuously flowing and, if desired, recirculating. In addition to the modern analysis techniques used in, or being developed for, the code, PEBBED incorporates a novel nuclide-mixing algorithm that allows for sophisticated recirculation patterns using a matrix generated from basic core parameters. Derived from a simple partitioning of the pebble flow, the elements of the recirculation matrix are used to compute the spatially averaged density of each nuclide at the entry plane from the nuclide densities of pebbles emerging from the discharge conus. The order of the recirculation matrix is a function of the flexibility and sophistication of the fuel handling mechanism. This formulation for coupling pebble flow and neutronics enables core design and fuel cycle optimization to be performed by manipulating a few key core parameters. The formulation is amenable to modern optimization techniques

Conceptual Design of a Very High Temperature Pebble-Bed Reactor

Efficient electricity and hydrogen production distinguish the Very High Temperature Reactor as the leading Generation IV advanced concept. This graphite-moderated, helium-cooled reactor achieves a requisite high outlet temperature while retaining the passive safety and proliferation resistance required of Generation IV designs. Furthermore, a recirculating pebble-bed VHTR can operate with minimal excess reactivity to yield improved fuel economy and superior resistance to ingress events. Using the PEBBED code developed at the INEEL, conceptual designs of 300 megawatt and 600 megawatt (thermal) Very High Temperature Pebble-Bed Reactors have been developed. The fuel requirements of these compare favorably to the South African PBMR. Passive safety is confirmed with the MELCOR accident analysis code

PEBBED ANALYSIS OF HOT SPOTS IN PEBBLE-BED REACTORS

The Idaho National Laboratory’s PEBBED code and simple probability considerations are used to estimate the likelihood and consequences of the accumulation of highly reactive pebbles in the region of peak power in a pebble-bed reactor. The PEBBED code is briefly described, and the logic of the probability calculations is presented in detail. The results of the calculations appear to show that hot-spot formation produces only moderate increases in peak accident temperatures, and no increases at all in normal operating temperatures

Modular Pebble-Bed Reactor Project: Laboratory-Directed Research and Development Program FY 2002 Annual Report

This report documents the results of our research in FY-02 on pebble-bed reactor technology under our Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project entitled the Modular Pebble-Bed Reactor. The MPBR is an advanced reactor concept that can meet the energy and environmental needs of future generations under DOE’s Generation IV initiative. Our work is focused in three areas: neutronics, core design and fuel cycle; reactor safety and thermal hydraulics; and fuel performance

Next Generation Nuclear Plant Methods Technical Program Plan

One of the great challenges of designing and licensing the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is to confirm that the intended VHTR analysis tools can be used confidently to make decisions and to assure all that the reactor systems are safe and meet the performance objectives of the Generation IV Program. The research and development (R&D) projects defined in the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Design Methods Development and Validation Program will ensure that the tools used to perform the required calculations and analyses can be trusted. The Methods R&D tasks are designed to ensure that the calculational envelope of the tools used to analyze the VHTR reactor systems encompasses, or is larger than, the operational and transient envelope of the VHTR itself. The Methods R&D focuses on the development of tools to assess the neutronic and thermal fluid behavior of the plant. The fuel behavior and fission product transport models are discussed in the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) program plan. Various stress analysis and mechanical design tools will also need to be developed and validated and will ultimately also be included in the Methods R&D Program Plan. The calculational envelope of the neutronics and thermal-fluids software tools intended to be used on the NGNP is defined by the scenarios and phenomena that these tools can calculate with confidence. The software tools can only be used confidently when the results they produce have been shown to be in reasonable agreement with first-principle results, thought-problems, and data that describe the “highly ranked” phenomena inherent in all operational conditions and important accident scenarios for the VHTR