Burnable Poison Selection and Neutronics Analysis of Plate Fuel Assemblies

Abstract

Burnable poisons play a critical role in long-life pressurized water reactors. Plate fuel elements have good application prospects in long-life pressurized water reactors. In long-life pressurized water reactors with large initial residual reactivity in the core, a reasonable selection of burnable poisons can suppress the large residual reactivity at beginning of lifetime and can achieve a long burnup depth at end of lifetime. Therefore, the selection of burnable poisons is a crucial factor to be considered in the design of long-life pressurized water reactors. In this study, the selection of burnable poisons and neutronics characteristics of long-life PWR plate fuel assembly were studied. The transport-burnup calculations of different burnable poison fuel assemblies were carried out. Some candidate BPs are selected to realize the effective control of reactivity. The results show that when the enriched isotopes 157Gd, 167Er and B4C are used as burnable poisons, there is almost no reactivity penalty; when PACS-J and 231Pa are used as burnable poisons, due to their own characteristics, not only does not cause reactivity penalty at end of lifetime, but also the fuel assembly life is extended, the fuel utilization rate is improved. The combination of PACS-J and the slow-burnup burnable poisons can obtain a better reactivity curve. The results of this article show that the plate fuel assemblies can be selected with enriched isotope 157Gd, enriched isotope 167Er, B4C, 231Pa and PACS-J as burnable poisons, and the combinations of burnable poisons can be selected with two combination schemes, PACS-Er and PACS-Pa.