• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.329-338
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• 2010

We developed an achievable control logic for the reactor power level during a power maneuvering event and set up some constraints for the control of the reactor power in a conceptual sodium-cooled fast reactor (KALIMER-600) that was developed at KAERI. For simulating the dynamic behaviors of the plant, we developed a fast-running performance analysis code. Through various simulations of the power maneuvering event, we evaluated some suggested control logic for the reactor power and found an achievable control logic. The objective of the control logic is to search for the position of the control rods that would keep the average temperature of the primary pool constant and, concurrently, minimize the power deviation between the reactor and the BOP cycle during the power maneuvering. In addition, the flow rates of the primary pool and the intermediate loop should be changed according to the power level in order to not violate the constraints set up in this study. Also, we evaluated some movement speeds of the control rods and found that a fast movement of the control rods might cause the power to fluctuate during the power maneuvering event. We suggested a reasonable movement speed of the control rods for the developed control logic.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2395-2407
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• 2022

The sodium-cooled fast reactor is among the innovative nuclear technologies selected in the framework of the development of Generation IV concepts, allowing the irradiation of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuels (MOX). A fundamental step for the safety assessment of MOX-fuelled pins for fast reactor applications is the evaluation, by means of fuel performance codes, of the integral thermal-mechanical behaviour under irradiation, involving the fission gas behaviour and release in the fuel-cladding gap. This work is dedicated to the performance analysis of an inner-core fuel pin representative of the ASTRID sodium-cooled concept design, selected as case study for the benchmark between the GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS fuel performance codes. The focus is on fission gas-related mechanisms and integral outcomes as predicted by means of the SCIANTIX module (allowing the physics-based treatment of inert gas behaviour and release) coupled to both fuel performance codes. The benchmark activity involves the application of both GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS in their "pre-INSPYRE" versions, i.e., adopting the state-of-the-art recommended correlations available in the codes, compared with the "post-INSPYRE" code results, obtained by implementing novel models for MOX fuel properties and phenomena (SCIANTIX included) developed in the framework of the INSPYRE H2020 Project. The SCIANTIX modelling includes the consideration of burst releases of the fission gas stored at the grain boundaries occurring during power transients of shutdown and start-up, whose effect on a fast reactor fuel concept is analysed. A clear need to further extend and validate the SCIANTIX module for application to fast reactor MOX emerges from this work; nevertheless, the GERMINAL-TRANSURANUS benchmark on the ASTRID case study highlights the achieved code capabilities for fast reactor conditions and paves the way towards the proper application of fuel performance codes to safety evaluations on Generation IV reactor concepts.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2785-2796
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• 2023

How to generate the precise broad group cross section is important for the fast reactor design. In this study, a fast reactor multi-group cross-section generation code MGGC2.0 are developed in-house for processing ultrafine group MATXS format library. Validation and verification are performed for MGGC2.0 code by applying the benchmarks of ICSBEP handbook, and the results of MGGC2.0 agree well with that of MCNP. The consistent P_N method with critical buckling search is in good agreement that condensed with TWODANT flux and flux moment for the inner core and outer core region. For the radial blanket and reflector, two region approximation method has been applied in MGGC2.0 by using collision Probability Method neutron flux solver. The RBEC-M benchmark was used to verify the power distribution calculation, and the relative error of power distribution comparison with the reference are less than 0.8% in the fuel region and the maximum relative error is 5.58% in the reflector region. Therefore, the precise broad cross section can be generated by MGGC2.0 for fast reactor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.900-906
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• 2024

The Passively-Cooled Molten Salt Fast Reactor (PMFR) is one of the advanced design concepts of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) which utilizes a natural circulation for the primary loop and aims to attain a long-life operation without any means of fuel reprocessing. For an extended operation period, it is necessary to have enough fissile material, i.e., high excess reactivity, at the onset of operation. Since the PMFR is based on a fast neutron spectrum, direct implementation of a burnable absorber concept for the control of excess reactivity would be ineffective. Therefore, a localized moderator concept that encircles the active core has been envisioned for the PMFR which enables the effective utilization of a burnable absorber to achieve low reactivity swing and long-life operation. The modified PMFR design that incorporates a moderator and burnable absorber is presented, where depletion calculation is performed to estimate the reactor lifetime and reactivity swing to assess the feasibility of the proposed design. All the presented neutronic analysis has been conducted based on the Monte Carlo Serpent2 code with ENDF/B-VII.1 library.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.41-48
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• 2012

A numerical analysis of thermal stratification in the upper plenum of the MONJU fast breeder reactor was performed. Calculations were performed for a 1/6 simplified model of the MONJU reactor using the commercial code, CFX-13. To better resolve the geometrically complex upper core structure of the MONJU reactor, the porous media approach was adopted for the simulation. First, a steady state solution was obtained and the transient solutions were then obtained for the turbine trip test conducted in December 1995. The time dependent inlet conditions for the mass flow rate and temperature were provided by JAEA. Good agreement with the experimental data was observed for steady state solution. The numerical solution of the transient analysis shows the formation of thermal stratification within the upper plenum of the reactor vessel during the turbine trip test. The temporal variations of temperature were predicted accurately by the present method in the initial rapid coastdown period (~300 seconds). However, transient numerical solutions show a faster thermal mixing than that observed in the experiment after the initial coastdown period. A nearly homogenization of the temperature field in the upper plenum is predicted after about 900 seconds, which is a much shorter-term thermal stratification than the experimental data indicates. This discrepancy is due to the shortcoming of the turbulence models available in the CFX-13 code for a natural convection flow with thermal stratification.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.849-853
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• 2018

Mechanistic calculations for wet scrubbing of aerosol/vapor from gas bubble rising in liquid pool are essential to safety of sodium-cooled fast reactor. Hence, scrubbing of volatile fission product from mixed gas bubble rising in sodium pool is presented in this study. To understand this phenomenon, a theoretical model has been setup based on classical theories of aerosol/vapor removal from bubble rising through liquid pools. The model simulates pool scrubbing of sodium iodide aerosol and cesium vapor from a rising mixed gas bubble containing xenon as the inert species. The scrubbing of aerosol and vapor are modeled based on deposition mechanisms and Fick's law of diffusion, respectively. Studies were performed to determine the effect of various key parameters on wet scrubbing. It is observed that for higher vapor diffusion coefficient in gas bubble, the scrubbing efficiency is higher. For aerosols, the cut-off size above which the scrubbing efficiency becomes significant was also determined. The study evaluates the retention capability of liquid sodium used in sodium-cooled fast reactor for its safe operation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.732-740
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• 2021

Scattering resonance of medium mass nuclides leads complex spectrum in the fast reactor, which requires thousands of energy groups in the spectrum calculation. When the broad-group cross sections are collapsed, reaction rate cannot be completely conserved. To eliminate the error from energy collapsing, the Super-homogenization method in energy collapsing (ESPH) was employed in the fast reactor code SARAX. An ESPH factor was derived based on the ESPH-corrected SN transport equation. By applying the factor in problems with reflective boundary condition, both the effective multiplication factor and reaction rate were conserved. The fixed-source iteration was used to ensure the stability of ESPH iteration. However, in the energy collapsing process of SARAX, the vacuum boundary condition was adopted, which was necessary for fast reactors with strong heterogeneity. To further reduce the error caused by leakage, an additional conservation factor was proposed to correct the neutron current in energy collapsing. To evaluate the performance of ESPH with conservation factor, numerical benchmarks of fast reactors were calculated. The results of broad-group calculation agreed well with the direct full-core Monte-Carlo calculation, including the effective multiplication factor, radial power distribution, total control rod worth and sodium void worth.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.70-77
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• 2016

In this paper, the structural design and integrity evaluations for a reactor vessel of PGSFR sodium-cooled fast reactor(150MWe) are carried out in compliance with ASME BPV III, Division 5 Subsection HB. The reactor vessel is designed with a direct contact of primary sodium coolant to its inner surface and has a double vessel concept enclosing by containment vessel. To assure the structural integrity for 60 years design lifetime and elevated operating temperature of $545^{\circ}C$, which can invoke creep and creep-fatigue damage, the structural integrity evaluations are carried out in compliance with the ASME code rules. The design loads considered in this evaluations are primary loads and operation thermal cycling loads of normal heat-up and cool-down. From the evaluations, the PGSFR reactor vessel satisfies the ASME code limits but it was found that there is a little design margin of creep damage for inner surface at the region of cold pool free surface.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.591-618
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• 2006

An integrated R&D program is being conducted to study, qualify, and in some cases, develop materials with required properties for the reactor systems being developed as part the U.S. Department of Energy's Generation IV Reactor Program. The goal of the program is to ensure that the materials research and development (R&D) needed to support Gen IV applications will comprise a comprehensive and integrated effort to identify and provide the materials data and its interpretation needed for the design and construction of the selected advanced reactor concepts. The major materials issues for the five primary systems that have been considered within the U.S. Gen IV Reactor Program-very high temperature gas-cooled, supercritical water-cooled, gas-cooled fast spectrum, lead-cooled fast spectrum, and sodium-cooled fast spectrum reactors-are described along with the R&D that has been identified to address them.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.48-57
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• 2015

In a sodium-cooled fast reactor, which is a Generation-IV reactor, refueling is conducted by rotating, but not opening, the reactor head to prevent a reaction between the sodium, water and air. Therefore, an inspection technique that checks for the presence of any obstacles between the reactor core and the upper internal structure, which could disturb the rotation of the reactor head, is essential prior to the refueling of a sodium-cooled fast reactor. To this end, an ultrasound-based inspection technique should be employed because the opacity of the sodium prevents conventional optical inspection techniques from being applied to the monitoring of obstacles. In this study, a ranging inspection technique using a plate-type ultrasonic waveguide sensor was developed to monitor the presence of any obstacles between the reactor core and the upper internal structure in the opaque sodium. Because the waveguide sensor installs an ultrasonic transducer in a relatively cold region and transmits the ultrasonic waves into the hot radioactive liquid sodium through a long waveguide, it offers better reliability and is less susceptible to thermal or radiation damage. A 10 m horizontal beam waveguide sensor capable of radiating an ultrasonic wave horizontally was developed, and beam profile measurements and basic experiments were carried out to investigate the characteristics of the developed sensor. The beam width and propagation distance of the ultrasonic wave radiated from the sensor were assessed based on the experimental results. Finally, a feasibility test using cylindrical targets (corresponding to the shape of possible obstacles) was also conducted to evaluate the applicability of the developed ranging inspection technique to actual applications.