A new fuel loading design has been developed for the Advanced Neutron Source Reactor. In this reactor the combination of a small core volume and high power results in a very high power density. Using a direct optimization procedure the thermal-hydraulic margins for oxide temperature drop, centerline temperature and incipient boiling (and thus critical heat flux) were maximized to increase the limiting thermal power from 298 MW to 346 MW compared to the previous fuel grading, while maintaining the desired peak reflector thermal flux.
The proposed Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) pre-conceptual design consists of a two-element 330 MW{sub f} nuclear reactor fueled with highly-enriched uranium and is cooled, moderated, and reflected with heavy water. Recently, the ANS design has been changed to a three-element configuration in order to permit a reduction of the enrichment, if required, while maintaining or improving the thermal-hydraulic margins. The core consists of three annular fuel elements composed of involute-shaped fuel plates. Each fuel plate has a thickness of 1.27 mm and consists of a fuel meat region Of U3Si2-Al (50% enriched in one case that was proposed) and an aluminum filler region between aluminum cladding. The individual plates are separated by a 1.27 mm coolant channel. The three element core has a fuel loading of 31 kg of 235U which is sufficient for a 17-day fuel cycle. The goal in obtaining a new fuel grading is to maximize important temperature margins. The limits imposed axe: (1) Limit the temperature drop over the cladding oxide layer to less than 119°C to avoid oxide spallation. (2) Limit the fuel centerline temperature to less than 400°C to avoid fuel damage. (3) Limit the cladding wall temperature to less than the coolant. incipient-boiling temperature to avoid coolant boiling. Other thermal hydraulic conditions, such as critical heat flux, are also considered.
The preconceptual design phase of the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) Project ended with the selection of a reference reactor core that will be used to begin conceptual design work. The new reference core consists of two involute fuel elements, of different diameters, aligned axially with a small axial gap between them. The use of different element diameters permits a separate flow of coolant to be provided for each one, thus enhancing the heat removal capability and increasing the thermal-hydraulic margins. The improved cooling allows the elements to be relatively long and thin, so self-shielding is reduced and an acceptable core life can be achieved with a relatively small loading of highly enriched uranium silicide fuel clad in aluminium. The new reference design has a fueled volume 67.4 L, each element having a heated length of 474 mm and a radial fuel thickness of 66 mm. The end-of-cycle peak thermal flux in the large heavy-water reflector tank around the core is estimated to be in the range of 0.8 to 1.0 /times/ 10/sup 20/ m/sup /minus/2/ /center dot/ s/sup /minus/1/. 7 refs., 23 figs., 15 tabs.
Consistent with the words of the budget request for the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS), DOE commissioned a study of the impact on performance of using medium- or low-enriched uranium (MEU or LEU) in the fuel of the reactor that generates the neutrons. In the course of the study, performance calculations for 19 different combinations of reactor core volume, fuel density and enrichment, power level, and other relevant parameters were carried out. Since then, another 14 cases have been analyzed at Oak Ridge to explore some of the more interesting and important configurations and to gain further insights into the tradeoffs between performance and enrichment. Furthermore, with the aid of the data from these additional cases, we have been able to correlate the most important performance parameters (peak thermal neutron flux in the reflector and core life) with reactor power, fuel density, and fuel enrichment. This enables us to investigate intermediate cases, or alternative cases that might be proposed by people within or outside the project, without the time and expense of doing completely new neutronics calculations for each new example. The main drivers of construction and operating costs are the reactor power level and the number of fuel plates to be fabricated each year; these quantities can be calculated from the correlations. The results show that the baseline two-element core design cannot be adapted to any practical fuel of greatly reduced enrichment without great performance penalties, but that a modification of the design, in which one additional fuel element is incorporated to provide extra volume for lower enrichment fuels, has the capability of using existing, or more advanced, fuel types to lower the uranium enrichment.
This report presents the fuel fabrication development for the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) reactor. The fuel element is similar to that successfully fabricated and used in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) for many years, but there are two significant differences that require some development. The fuel compound is U3Si2 rather than U3O, and the fuel is graded in the axial as well as the radial direction. Both of these changes can be accomplished with a straightforward extension of the HFIR technology. The ANS also requires some improvements in inspection technology and somewhat more stringent acceptance criteria. Early indications were that the fuel fabrication and inspection technology would produce a reactor core meeting the requirements of the ANS for the low volume fraction loadings needed for the highly enriched uranium design (up to 1.7 Mg U/m3). Near the end of the development work, higher volume fractions were fabricated that would be required for a lower- enrichment uranium core. Again, results look encouraging for loadings up to (almost equal to)3.5 Mg U/m3; however, much less evaluation was done for the higher loadings.
Source of neutrons in the proposed Advanced Neutron Source facility is a multipurpose research reactor providing 5-10 times the flux, for neutron beams, of the best existing facilities. Baseline design for the reactor core, based on the ''no new inventions'' rule, was an assembly of two annular fuel elements similar to those used in the Oak Ridge and Grenoble high flux reactors, containing highly enriched U silicide particles. DOE commissioned a study of the use of medium- or low-enriched U; a three-element core design was studied as a means to provide extra volume to accommodate the additional U compound required when the fissionable 235U has to be diluted with 238U to reduce the enrichment. This paper describes the design and optimization of that three-element core.
This report describes the development and qualification plan for the fuel for the Advanced Neutron Source. The reference fuel is U3Si2, dispersed in aluminum and clad in 6061 aluminum. This report was prepared in May 1994, at which time the reference design was for a two-element core containing highly enriched uranium (93% 235U) . The reactor was in the process of being redesigned to accommodate lowered uranium enrichment and became a three-element core containing a higher volume fraction of uranium enriched to 50% 235U. Consequently, this report was not issued at that time and would have been revised to reflect the possibly different requirements of the lower-enrichment, higher-volume fraction fuel. Because the reactor is now being canceled, this unrevised report is being issued for archival purposes. The report describes the fabrication and inspection development plan, the irradiation tests and performance modeling to qualify performance, the transient testing that is part of the safety program, and the interactions and interfaces of the fuel development with other tasks.
The proposed design for the Advanced Neutron Source reactor core consists of closely spaced involute fuel plates. Coolant flows between the plates at high velocities. It is vital that adjacent plates do not come in contact and that the coolant channels between the plates remain open. Several scenarios that could result in problems with the fuel plates are studied. Finite element analyses are performed on fuel plates under pressure from the coolant flowing between the plates at a high velocity, under pressure because of a partial flow blockage in one of the channels, and with different temperature profiles.
