Investigating the possibility of using iridium as a burnable absorber in new fuel pellet designs of VVER-1200 for reactivity management

IF 2.1 3区工程技术 Q1 NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Nuclear Engineering and Design Pub Date : 2025-03-13 DOI:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2025.113989

Sultan J. Alsufyani , Nassar Alnassar , Mohammed Sallah , Mohamed A.E. Abdel-Rahman , Naima Amrani , A. Abdelghafar Galahom

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Abstract

Searching for the optimal design of the fuel assembly and the material needed to manage the reactivity in the nuclear reactor is still vital. Therefore, new geometry configurations and materials have been investigated in this work to handle the excess reactivity. Two designs of burnable absorber fuel pellets concentric shell model (CSM) and outer shell model (OSM) have been proposed for VVER-1200 assembly. Four BA materials including Gd₂O₃, Eu₂O₃, Er₂O₃ and Ir₂O₃ have been suggested to be investigated in the proposed fuel pellet designs. Various dimensions and concentrations of the suggested BAs have been studied in the OSM and CSM to obtain the optimum model. From both designs, the optimal models from k_inf behavior point of view have been selected and integral studies have been done on them. The neutronic analysis confirms the effectiveness of using erbium and iridium in the suggested models in managing the excess reactivity of VVER-1200.

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探讨了在VVER-1200新型燃料球团设计中使用铱作为可燃吸收剂进行反应性管理的可能性

寻找燃料组件的最佳设计和管理核反应堆反应性所需的材料仍然是至关重要的。因此，在这项工作中，研究了新的几何结构和材料来处理过度反应性。针对VVER-1200组件，提出了两种可燃吸收器燃料球团的同心壳模型（CSM）和外壳模型（OSM）设计。四种BA材料，包括Gd2O3， Eu2O3， Er2O3和Ir2O3，被建议在拟议的燃料球团设计中进行研究。为了得到最佳模型，我们在OSM和CSM中研究了不同尺寸和浓度的BAs。从这两种设计中选择了亲属行为角度的最优模型，并对其进行了综合研究。中子分析证实了在建议的模型中使用铒和铱来管理VVER-1200的过度反应性的有效性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Nuclear Engineering and Design 工程技术-核科学技术

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

11.80%

发文量

377

审稿时长

5 months

期刊介绍： Nuclear Engineering and Design covers the wide range of disciplines involved in the engineering, design, safety and construction of nuclear fission reactors. The Editors welcome papers both on applied and innovative aspects and developments in nuclear science and technology. Fundamentals of Reactor Design include: • Thermal-Hydraulics and Core Physics • Safety Analysis, Risk Assessment (PSA) • Structural and Mechanical Engineering • Materials Science • Fuel Behavior and Design • Structural Plant Design • Engineering of Reactor Components • Experiments Aspects beyond fundamentals of Reactor Design covered: • Accident Mitigation Measures • Reactor Control Systems • Licensing Issues • Safeguard Engineering • Economy of Plants • Reprocessing / Waste Disposal • Applications of Nuclear Energy • Maintenance • Decommissioning Papers on new reactor ideas and developments (Generation IV reactors) such as inherently safe modular HTRs, High Performance LWRs/HWRs and LMFBs/GFR will be considered; Actinide Burners, Accelerator Driven Systems, Energy Amplifiers and other special designs of power and research reactors and their applications are also encouraged.