Conceptual design of a steam-water power reactor core

The steam-water power reactor cove concept originally proposed by several Russian engineers, is expected to improve natural uranium utilization through self-sustaining plutonium by using tight-lattice plutonium fuels and lar ge void fraction two-phase Slow, and to realize inherent safety characteristics through large neutron leakage from the core by a flat core configuration. Results are described for the core conceptual design for specifications meeting a 500-MW(electric) electricity supply for 13 months of continuous operation and 92 GWd/tonne fuel average discharge exposure. The design has core nuclear thermal-hydraulic characteristics that satisfy the specifications and limitations usually applied to boiling water reactors (BWRs), based on analyses by the three-dimensional multineutron-energy group diffusion analysis program CITATION. Further; its safety characteristics satisfy limitations, usually applied to BWRs, by the steam cooling emergency core cooling system and the reflood system, based on analyses of a loss-of-coolant accident, which is thought to be most critical for a core with a small water inventory, by the general transient analysis program TRAC.