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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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2021 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting
June 14–16, 2021
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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EDF and U.K.’s Nuclear AMRC step up partnership
EDF has signed a new membership agreement with the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to drive innovation in low-carbon power generation and support U.K. manufacturers, the University of Sheffield–based center announced recently.
Mohammad Abdul Motalab, Woosong Kim, Yonghee Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 201 | Number 2 | February 2018 | Pages 122-137
Technical Paper | dx.doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1414541
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper reports on the improvement of the power coefficient of reactivity (PCR) and minimization of the coolant void reactivity (CVR) of a CANDU6 reactor. A burnable absorber of Er2O3 (erbia) was mixed homogeneously with UO2 fuel in the central fuel element to maximize the Doppler broadening and minimize the CVR of the CANDU6 reactor. In this study, recovered uranium (RU) with 0.9 wt% 235U enrichment was utilized in the advanced CANFLEX fuel bundle instead of natural uranium (NU). First, the optimal loading of erbia was investigated through lattice-based analysis, and its impact on the lattice characteristics was examined. In particular, both the fuel Doppler effect and CVR were evaluated for the RU-loaded lattice. For a more reliable analysis, a three-dimensional (3-D) equilibrium core was determined based on the standard time-average methods for erbia-loaded CANDU6 cores using the Serpent-COREDAX/CANDU code system. The core analysis was based on a hybrid two-step method in which the lattice analysis was performed by the Serpent Monte Carlo code, and the 3-D whole-core analysis was done using a diffusion theory–based nodal code named COREDAX. For the derived equilibrium cores, the core performances were evaluated in terms of the fuel burnup and power profile. Additionally, the safety parameters, including the PCR and CVR, were evaluated for the equilibrium core conditions. The safety parameters of the 3-D whole core were compared with those obtained with simple lattice-based analysis. It was observed in the analysis that Er-loaded CANFLEX-RU fuel provides a 60% more negative fuel temperature coefficient than standard CANDU-NU fuel.
