Effect of Control Blade History, and Axial Coolant Density and Burnup Profiles on BWR Burnup Credit

Effect of Control Blade History, and Axial Coolant Density and Burnup Profiles on BWR Burnup Credit
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 5
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have initiated a multiyear project to investigate the application of burnup credit (BUC) for boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel in storage and transportation systems (often referred to as casks) and spent fuel pools (SFPs). This work is divided into two main phases. The first phase investigated the applicability of peak reactivity methods currently used in SFPs to transportation and storage casks and the validation of reactivity calculations and spent fuel compositions within these methods. The second phase focuses on extending BUC beyond peak reactivity. This paper documents the analysis of the effects of control blade insertion history, and moderator density and burnup axial profiles for extended BWR BUC.

Coolant Density and Control Blade History Effects in Extended BWR Burnup Credit

Coolant Density and Control Blade History Effects in Extended BWR Burnup Credit
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission have initiated a multiyear project to investigate the application of burnup credit (BUC) for boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel in storage and transportation casks. This project includes two phases. The first phase investigates the applicability of peak reactivity methods currently used for spent fuel pools to spent fuel storage and transportation casks and the validation of reactivity (keff) calculations and predicted spent fuel compositions. The second phase focuses on extending BUC beyond peak reactivity. This paper documents work performed to date investigating some aspects of extended BUC. (The technical basis for application of peak reactivity methods to BWR fuel in storage and transportation systems is presented in a companion paper.) Two reactor operating parameters are being evaluated to establish an adequate basis for extended BWR BUC: (1) the effect of axial void profile and (2) the effect of control blade utilization during operation. A detailed analysis of core simulator data for one cycle of a modern operating BWR plant was performed to determine the range of void profiles and the variability of the profile experienced during irradiation. Although a single cycle does not provide complete data, the data obtained are sufficient to determine the primary effects and to identify conservative modeling approaches. These data were used in a study of the effect of axial void profile. The first stage of the study was determination of the necessary moderator density temporal fidelity in depletion modeling. After the required temporal fidelity was established, multiple void profiles were used to examine the effect on cask reactivity. The results of these studies are being used to develop recommendations for conservatively modeling the void profile effects for BWR depletion calculations. The second operational parameter studied was control blade history. Control blades are inserted in various locations and at varying degrees during BWR operation based on the core loading pattern. When present during depletion, control blades harden the neutron spectrum locally because they displace the moderator and absorb thermal neutrons. The investigation of the effect of control blades on post operational cask reactivity is documented herein, as is the effect of multiple (continuous and intermittent) exposure periods with control blades inserted. The coupled effects of control blade presence on power density, void profile, or burnup profile will be addressed in future work.

Recommendations for Addressing Axial Burnup in the PWR Burnup Credit Analyses

Recommendations for Addressing Axial Burnup in the PWR Burnup Credit Analyses
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2002
Genre:
ISBN:

This report presents studies performed to support the development of a technically justifiable approach for addressing the axial-burnup distribution in pressurized-water reactor (PWR) burnup-credit criticality safety analyses. The effect of the axial-burnup distribution on reactivity and proposed approaches for addressing the axial-burnup distribution are briefly reviewed. A publicly available database of profiles is examined in detail to identify profiles that maximize the neutron multiplication factor, k{sub eff}, assess its adequacy for PWR burnup credit analyses, and investigate the existence of trends with fuel type and/or reactor operations. A statistical evaluation of the k{sub eff} values associated with the profiles in the axial-burnup-profile database was performed, and the most reactive (bounding) profiles were identified as statistical outliers. The impact of these bounding profiles on k{sub eff} is quantified for a high-density burnup credit cask. Analyses are also presented to quantify the potential reactivity consequence of loading assemblies with axial-burnup profiles that are not bounded by the database. The report concludes with a discussion on the issues for consideration and recommendations for addressing axial burnup in criticality safety analyses using burnup credit for dry cask storage and transportation.

Findings of an International Study on Burnup Credit

Findings of an International Study on Burnup Credit
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 13
Release: 1996
Genre:
ISBN:

Findings from a four year study by an international benchmarking group in the comparison of computational methods for evaluating burnup credit in criticality safety analyses are presented in this paper. Approximately 20 participants from 11 countries have provided results for most problems. Four detailed benchmark problems for Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fuel have been completed and are summarized in this paper. Preliminary results from current work addressing burnup credit for Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) fuel will also be discussed as well as planned activities for additional benchmarks including Mixed-Oxide (MOX) fuels, subcritical benchmarks, international databases, and other activities.

Modelling of Fuel Behaviour in Design Basis Accidents and Design Extension Conditions

Modelling of Fuel Behaviour in Design Basis Accidents and Design Extension Conditions
Author: International Atomic Energy Agency
Publisher:
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2020-07-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9789201080202

This publication is the result of an IAEA technical meeting and reports on Member States' capabilities in modelling, predicting and improving their understanding of the behaviour of nuclear fuel under accident conditions. The main results and outcomes of a coordinated research project (CRP) on this topic are also presented.