Hydrothermal Corrosion Studies on Nitride Fuels

Uranium mononitride (UN) has been identified as a candidate nuclear fuel for use in the current US light water reactor (LWR) fleet as well as in next generation nuclear plants (NGNP), largely due to its high uranium density and thermal conductivity. However, its hydrothermal corrosion performance in accident scenarios has not been thoroughly investigated. In this work, UN was synthesized using a hydride-dehydride-nitride thermal synthesis route prior to sintering into dense compacts (\u3e90%TD). The compacts were corroded in a water filled autoclave up to 350 °C and 125 atm. The kinetics of corrosion were characterized through phase analysis, mass loss, and microstructural analysis

High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs: 11th Quarterly Report

Quarterly Report for Project DE-FG03-01SF22329 April 2004 – June 2004I. Technical Narrative: The overall objective of this NERI project is to examine the potential for a high performance advanced fuel for Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs), which would accommodate a substantial increase of core power density while simultaneously providing larger thermal margins than current PWRs. This advanced fuel will have an annular geometry that allows internal and external coolant flow and heat removal. The project is led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with collaboration of four industrial partners – Gamma Engineering Corporation, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Framatome ANP (formerly Duke Engineering & Services), and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited

High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs 2nd Annual Report

Progress Report for Work August 2002 through July 2003The overall objective of this NERI project is to examine the potential for a high performance advanced fuel design for Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs), which would accommodate a substantial increase of core power density while simultaneously providing larger thermal margins than current PWRs. This advanced fuel employs an annular geometry that allows internal and external coolant flow and heat removal. The project is led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the collaboration of four industrial partners – Gamma Engineering Corporation, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Framatome ANP DE & S (formerly Duke Engineering & Services), and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. The project is organized into five tasks: 1. Task 1 Assess the thermal hydraulic performance of the internally and externally cooled annular fuel to identify the configuration with the highest potential for power density increase while maintaining ample thermal margins, as well as key aspects of mechanical design to ensure that new fuel will not perform outside established hydraulic and mechanical constraints, 2. Task 2 Determine the neutronic performance of the new fuel, and the design that will minimize fuel cycle cost and assures that reactor physics safety parameters are as good or better than those of current PWRs, 3. Task 3 Explore various methods of manufacturing of this advanced fuel, including new innovative fabrication processes to produce annular fuel elements with the required product characteristics, 4. Task 4 Evaluate fuel cycle cost and capital cost implications of high power density to determine the economic viability of the high-performance fuel, and 5. Task 5 Analyze fuel performance of the new UO2 annular fuel obtained by various production technologies including irradiation testing in the MIT reactor

High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs: Final Report

Project DE-FG03-01SF22329This summary provides an overview of the results of the U.S. DOE funded NERI (Nuclear Research Energy Initiative) program on development of the internally and externally cooled annular fuel for high power density PWRs. This new fuel was proposed by MIT to allow a substantial increase in power density (on the order of 30% or higher) while maintaining or improving safety margins. A comprehensive study was performed by a team consisting of MIT (lead organization), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Gamma Engineering Corporation, Framatome ANP (formerly Duke Engineering) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. The study involved the evaluation of the new fuel in terms of thermal hydraulic, neutronics, fuel performance including first scoping irradiation tests at the MIT reactor, fuel manufacturing and economics.Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (U.S.

High Performance Fuel Design for Next Generation PWRs Appendices B-I to FY-02 Annual Report

Progress Report for Work August 2001 through July 2002B.1.1 VIPRE modeling of PWR core with annular fuel: Optimization studies in the first year used an isolated channel and models for MDNBR analyses. These analyses provided sufficient knowledge of potential thermal hydraulic performance of annular fuels to select the 13x13 array as the most promising configuration. To obtain more realistic and accurate MDNBR, a whole core model is necessary. In particular, the major concern is correct representation of channel flow rate. The earlier models used the core-average mass flux, which does not account for flow rate reduction in the hot channels due to increased pressure drop in this channel as a result of higher subcooled, or possibly, saturated boiling. Therefore, it is expected that the MDNBR obtained from the full core VIPRE-01 model will be smaller than the values obtained from the isolated channel model

Advanced Power Ultra-Uprates of Existing Plants (APPU) Final Scientific/Technical Report

This project assessed the feasibility of a Power Ultra-Uprate on an existing nuclear plant. The study determined the technical and design limitations of the current components, both inside and outside the containment. Based on the identified plant bottlenecks, the design changes for major pieces of equipment required to meet the Power Ultra-Uprate throughput were determined. Costs for modified pieces of equipment and for change-out and disposal of the replaced equipment were evaluated. These costs were then used to develop capital, fuel and operating and maintenance cost estimates for the Power Ultra-Uprate plant. The cost evaluation indicates that the largest cost components are the replacement of power (during the outage required for the uprate) and the new fuel loading. Based on these results, the study concluded that, for a ?standard? 4-loop plant, the proposed Power Ultra-Uprate is technically feasible. However, the power uprate is likely to be more expensive than the cost (per Kw electric installed) of a new plant when large capacity uprates are considered (>25%). Nevertheless, the concept of the Power Ultra-Uprate may be an attractive option for specific nuclear power plants where a large margin exists in the steam and power conversion system or where medium power increases (~600 MWe) are needed. The results of the study suggest that development efforts on fuel technologies for current nuclear power plants should be oriented towards improving the fuel performance (fretting-wear, corrosion, uranium load, manufacturing, safety) required to achieve higher burnup rather focusing on potential increases in the fuel thermal output