Thermal-Hydraulic Challenges and Opportunities for LWR Sustainability

LWR fleet capacity factor and reliability have improved significantly over the last decades. However, to keep up with the changing economic pressures and with desire to further improve plant safety and operation, LWR fleet is looking into new innovative solutions to further improve its economics as well as overall safety of the plants. Operational experience gained in recent decades and improvements in the computational infrastructure is in the middle of this effort. That said, these opportunities and initiatives present a number of significant challenges as well as unique opportunities in tackling these challenges. This panel focuses on two key examples, fuel fragmentation relocation and dispersion (FFRD) and time at temperature (t@T) concepts presented by key technical experts from the LWR industry.