Author:
Grandi Gerardo,Ferrer Rodolfo,Bahadir Tamer
Abstract
The possible deployment of Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATF) for currently-operating Light Water Reactors (LWR) has prompted interest in the use of Studsvik’s CMS5 code system to support the analysis of such advanced ATF core designs. Various ATF concepts have been proposed; for example, uranium silicide (U3Si2) fuel, together with iron-based (FeCrAl) cladding. The purpose of this work is to showcase the application of the CMS5 code system, which includes the CASMO5 advanced lattice physics code and the SIMULATE5 three-dimensional nodal simulator, to the analysis of a U3Si2/FeCrAl ATF concept. Given that the CMS5 code system was designed from inception to enable the analysis of advanced core designs, only minor changes to the CASMO5 lattice physics code and SIMULATE5 core simulator are necessary. The current CASMO5 586 energy-group nuclear data library provides all the necessary data to support the generation of homogenized data for downstream use by SIMULATE5 for ATF. The SIMULATE5 nodal code, which features a simplified fuel pin model, requires updating various thermophysical properties corresponding to the U3Si2/SiC ATF fuel and the gaseous conductance models. An equilibrium core for the Integral Inherently Safe (I2S) LWR design developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology was selected. The results of the CMS5 simulation were compared with those in the literature and were found to be in good agreement, giving us confidence that the CMS5 package can be used in the modeling of LWR systems with ATF technology.
Reference13 articles.
1. Rhodes J. D. et al., “CASMO-5 Development and Applications”, PHYSOR 2006, Vancouver, Canada, (2006)
2. Bahadir T. and Lindahl S-Ö., “Studsvik’s Next Generation Nodal Code SIMULATE5”, Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management IV (ANFM 2009), Hilton Head Island, USA, (2009)
3. Salazar D. and Franceschini F., “I2S-LWR Equilibrium Cycle Core Analysis,” PHYSOR 2014, Kyoto, Japan, Sept. 29-Oct. 3 (2014).
4. Ferrer R. and Rhodes J., “Generation and Initial Validation of a New CASMO5 ENDF/B-VIII.0 Nuclear Data Library,” PHYSOR 2020, Cambridge, UK, March 29 – April 2, (2020).
5. AREVA NP's enhanced accident-tolerant fuel developments: Focus on Cr-coated M5 cladding