Neutronic design of small modular long­life pressurized water reactor using thorium carbide fuel at a power level of 300–500 MWth

Abstract

This study presents the neutronic design of a small modular long­life Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) using thorium carbide fuel with 233U fissile material. The target optimization for this study is a reactor designed to operate for 20 years, with excess reacti­vity throughout the reactor operational cycle consistently below 1.00 % dk/k. The analysis involves dividing the reactor core into three fuel regions with 233U enrichment levels ranging from 3 % to 8 %, with a 1 % difference for each fuel region. To achieve optimum conditions, 231Pa was randomly added to the fuel. The fuel volume fraction in this design varied from 30 % to 65 %, with a 5 % incremental variation. Power level variations are also studied within the 300–500 MWth with increments of 50 MWth. Calculations were performed using the Standard Reactor Analysis Code (SRAC) program with the PIJ and CITATION modules for cell and core calculations utilizing JENDL­4.0 nuclide data. Neutronic calculations indicate that the fuel with a 60 % volume fraction achieves optimum conditions at a power level of 300 MWth. The best performance was observed with a fuel volume fraction of 65 %, reaching optimum conditions across power levels ranging from 300 to 500 MWth. For the fuel with the best performance, the power density distributions for low and high power levels follow the same pattern radially and axially. The power peaking factor (PPF) for all fuel configurations approaching the optimum conditions remains below two, a safe limit for the PWR. Other neutronic safety parameters, such as the Doppler coefficient and void fraction coefficient, also stay within the safe limits for the PWR, with both values remaining negative throughout the reactor operational cycle