• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.559-566
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• 2015

The thermalehydraulic characteristics for the CANadian Deuterium Uranium Flexible (CANFLEX)-burnable poison (BP) fuel channel, which is loaded with a BP at the center ring based on the CANFLEX-RU (recycled uranium) fuel channel, are evaluated and compared with that of standard 37-element and CANFLEX-NU (natural uranium) fuel channels. The distributions of fuel temperature and critical channel power for the CANFLEX-BP fuel channel are calculated using the NUclear Heat Transport CIRcuit Thermohydraulics Analysis Code (NUCIRC) code for various creep rate and burnup. CANFLEX-BP fuel channel has been revealed to have a lower fuel temperature compared with that of a standard 37-element fuel channel, especially for high power channels. The critical channel power of CANFLEX-BP fuel channel has increased by about 10%, relative to that of a standard 37-element fuel channel for 380 channels in a core, and has higher value relative to that of the CANFLEX-NU fuel channel except the channels in the outer core. This study has shown that the use of a BP is feasible to enhance the thermal performance by the axial heat flux distribution, as well as the improvement of the reactor physical safety characteristics, and thus the reactor safety can be improved by the use of BP in a CANDU reactor.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1030-1042
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• 2006

An experimental study has been performed to investigate the off-take phenomena at the header-feeder systems (horizontal header pipe with multiple feeder branch pipes) in a CANDU (CANadian Deuterium Uranium) reactor with the branch orientation varies ${\pm}36^{\circ}\;or\;{\pm}72^{\circ}$. In order to evaluate the applicability of the conventional correlations used in the safety analysis code, RELAP5-Mod3, the test facility is designed with the 1/2 scale of the. CANDU 6. It was found that the data set for the top, bottom and side branches are in a good agreement with the correlations used. However, for the specific angled branches, ${\pm}36^{\circ}\;and\;{\pm}72^{\circ}$, the onsets of off-take data and quality data showed large deviation with the conventional model inside RELAP5-MOD3. Furthermore, based on the uncertainty analysis, the conventional 2.5 power law needs to be modified. The present experimental data set can be useful for the construction of the general correlation considering the arbitrary branch orientation.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.499-504
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• 2001

A validation of a 3D CFD model for predicting local subcooling of moderator in the vicinity of calandria tubes in a CANDU reactor is performed. The small scale moderator experiments performed at Sheridan Park Experimental Laboratory(SPEL) in Ontario, Canada[1] is used for the validation. Also a comparison is made between previous CFD analyses based on 2DMOTH and PHOENICS, and the current model analysis for the same SPEL experiment. For the current model, a set of grid structures for the same geometry as the experimental test section is generated and the momentum, heat and continuity equations are solved by CFX-4.3, a CFD code developed by AEA technology. The matrix of calandria tubes is simplified by the porous media approach. The standard $k-\varepsilon$ turbulence model associated with logarithmic wall treatment and SIMPLEC algorithm on the body fitted grid are used and buoyancy effects are accounted for by the Boussinesq approximation. For the test conditions simulated in this study, the flow pattern identified is a buoyancy-dominated flow, which is generated by the interaction between the dominant buoyancy force by heating and inertial momentum forces by the inlet jets. As a result, the current CFD moderator analysis model predicts the moderator temperature reasonably, and the maximum error against the experimental data is kept at less than $2.0^{\circ}C$ over the whole domain. The simulated velocity field matches with the visualization of SPEL experiments quite well.