NE 170 NUCLEAR DESIGN Sp 06

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NE 170 - NUCLEAR DESIGN Sp 06

• Instructor Prof. Olander 4169 Etcheverry
  642-7055
  fuelpr_at_nuc.berkeley.edu
• TAs Kelly Jordan kjordan_at_nuc.berkeley.edu
  David Barnes dbarnes_at_nuc.berkeley.edu
• Time M,W at 11 1230 Room 4101 Etcheverry

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Course Objectives

• To become deeply involved in a single long-term
  project
• To perform design in three stages
• 1. Project proposal
• 2. Preliminary analysis scoping of project
• 3. Final design using industrial-strength
  codes
• To learn technical communication
• 1. via written reports at each stage
• 2. by oral presentations at each stage
• To seek out technical information on your own

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Library documents

• Reactor Physics
• - J. Lamarsh, Introduction to Nuclear
  Engineering (2001)
• - F. Ganda E. Greenspan A simplified
  method (2005)
• Thermal Hydraulics
• - N. Todreas M. Kazimi Thermal-hydraulic
  fundamentals
• - J. Malen, N. Todreas A. Romano
  Thermal-hydraulic design of hydride-fueled PWR
  cores MIT-NFC-TR-062
• - LWR Fuel Design USNRC (2001)
• - MATLAB/VIPRE documentation
• - C. Shuffler, Optimization of
  hydride-fueled PWR cores, pp. 10 - 33
•   - Handwerk, Hydride-fueled BWRs

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• Fuel performance
• - D. Olander, Fundamentals of Nuclear Reactor
  Fuel Elements
• - NE 120 Notes http//iron.nuc.berkeley.edu/bdw
  irth/Public/NE120/schedule.html
• - FRAPCON manual and updates
• Economics
• C. Shuffler, Optimization of hydride-fueled PWR
  cores, pp 81 143
• Book The economics of the nuclear fuel cycle
  OECD (1994)
• General
• -   Proposal, progress reports, F. Ganda E.
  Greenspan A simplified method (2005)
• - Papers ICAPP-2005 and ICAPP-2006

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Project for this semester

• To determine the benefit (if any) of replacing
  UO2 fuel in commercial BWRs with new fuels
  (specifically hydride)
• Hydride uranium metal zirconium hydride
  atom ratios Zr/U 3 (45 wt U) H/Zr 1.6
• Related Fuels Cercer fuels both phases are
  ceramic
• - Silicide U3Si SiC
• - Nitride UN ZrN
• Common features
• - both phases of the composite fuels have higher
  thermal conductivities than UO2
• - except for the hydride fuel, the two cercer
  fuels have higher uranium densities than UO2

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Fuel element (fuel rod)(fuel pin)
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PWR FUEL ASSEMBLY
No ducts around assemblies
PWR grid spacer showing 3 rod-holder designs
4 PWR assemblies
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Nuclear Fuel for BWRs
Reactor Pressure Vessel

• Pellets are stacked in cladding tubes.
• Fuel rods are assembled into fuel bundles

Bundles are loaded into the reactor core
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• Fuel Assemblies
• (bundles)
• Fuel pellets stacked in rod made of Zircaloy
• 3.66 m active fuel length
• Fuel rods assembled in square lattice (8x8, 9x9)
• Rods housed in channel box (duct)
• Water flows up along fuel

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TIE ROD
CONTROL BLADE
FUEL RODS
FUEL ROD
WATER ROD
DUCT
BWR FUEL ASSEMBLY or bundle