Evaluating the influence of radial power heterogeneity of fuel rod on its temperature in an accelerator driven subcritical system

Abstract The radial non-uniformity of an ADS fuel rod power density on the peak plane is as high as 10.46 %, which is derived from the reactor physics calculations. In order to investigate the influence of the above-mentioned radial power inhomogeneity on the fuel temperature distribution, this paper constructs a set of two-dimensional comparison examples, where one example uses a uniform heat source and another uses a non-uniform heat source distribution, with taking the fuel segment and its corresponding cladding segment in the region where the peak plane is located as the research object. The finite element software COMSOL is used to conduct the heat transfer analysis. The results of the study show that the fuel temperature under radial non-uniform power distribution is almost the same as that under uniform power. Therefore, this radial non-uniformity can be completely ignored when the research object of temperature is considered. The quantitative calculation carried out in this research can provide certain data support for the engineering research of accelerator driven subcritical system, and can also provide certain guidance for the performance analysis of such fuel elements.