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Core Design Studies for a BWR-Based Small Modular Reactor with Long-Life
Core

Conference Paper · November 2015

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 Core Design Studies for a BWR-Based Small Modular Reactor with Long-Life Core

Zeyun Wu*, W. S. Yang, Shanbin Shi, Manoru Ishii

School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University, 400 Central Dr., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2017, USA
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

INTRODUCTION COMPUTATIONAL MODELS FOR THE NMR-50

Researches are underway at Purdue University on a The core design study was performed using the lattice
BWR-based small modular reactor (SMR) with long-life physics code CASMO-4 [5], the core neutronics simulator
core – 50 MWe Novel Modular Reactor (NMR-50) [1]. PARCS [6] and the system thermal-hydraulics (T/H)
This design is based on GE’s SBWR-600 [2] and Purdue’s analysis tool RELAP5 [7]. The study started with
SBWR-200 [3] with renovations to encompass SMR CASMO-4 calculations at the fuel pin and assembly levels
concepts. It combines new passive safety features with the to generate few group cross section libraries. Parametric
latest BWR technologies on small and modular scales [1]. studies on fuel assembly design were undertaken at this
One outstanding feature of the NMR-50 is its long-life core stage to obtain an optimal fuel assembly design candidate
that achieves a 10-year lifetime without refueling. A for the subsequent core analysis in terms of fuel cycle
long-life core can facilitate specific applications in remote length and safety related parameters. After cross section
sites or with small grid systems. The NMR-50 is favorable libraries were prepared, the core simulation was performed
to be deployed in locations where industrial infrastructure with PARCS to obtain core performance information such
is under-developed or the unit cost of electricity is too high as keff, power distribution, fuel burnup, etc. This procedure
to be affordable with conventional technologies. was coupled with RELAP5 T/H calculations to account for
The primary core design objective of the NMR-50 is proper thermal feedbacks. The coupling calculations
to realize a 10-year core lifetime with no refueling. In order between PARCS and RELAP5 were performed via a
to achieve the targeted 10-year fuel cycle length under the message transfer interface supported by parallel virtual
current industrial constraint of 5 wt% fuel enrichment, a machine (PVM) [8]. A diagram illustrating the interactions
core design with reduced specific power as well as a single between these codes is shown in Fig. 1. Core design
batch fuel management scheme was adopted. In addition to parameters for the NMR-50 were determined iteratively
the design requirements of negative reactivity feedback from coupled calculations of CASMO-4, PARCS, and
coefficients and a sufficient shutdown margin, two main RELAP5 to eventually meet all the design criterions.
thermal design constraints were considered. One is the
maximum fuel linear power density (MFLPD), which
characterizes the limit of peak clad temperature during the Lattice Code Cross Section
(CASMO-4) Lib. (PMAXS)
loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The other is the
minimum critical power ratio (MCPR), which
characterizes the critical heat flux (CHF) when flow dryout
occurs in a BWR type reactor [4]. The MFLPD and MCPR
Core Simulator T/H Code
in NMR-50 are designated to be consistent with the ones (PARCS) (RELAP-5)
from its reference reactor SBWR-600 [2]. These design
criterions, as well as some design objectives, for the
NMR-50 are reported in Table I.
Fig. 1. Core design analysis code system used in the study.
Table I. Design objectives and constraints for the NMR-50
The overall design of the NMR-50 was initiated from
the SBWR-200 [3], a derivative design of the SBWR-600
Property Parameter with some novelties, by reducing the axial dimensions
Thermal power (MW) 165.0 (while retaining the radial dimensions) using the
Burn fuel length (years) 10.0 three-level scaling method developed by M. Ishii et al. [1].
Maximum fuel enrichment (%) 5.0 The axial dimensions were reduced by half mainly from
MFLPD (kW/m) 45.0 economic considerations to reduce the height of the reactor
pressure vessel (RPV) while maintaining natural flow
Axial peaking factor 1.5
circulation capability in the vessel. The core volume was
MCPR 1.3 thereafter reduced by half while the power was reduced by
a factor of four (from 660 MWt to 165 MWt). As a result,

*Current work address: NIST Center for Neutron Research, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8560
the power density of NMR-50 is half of that of SBWR-200. with red color. All fuel rods have 1.372 meter length of
This reduced power density naturally doubles the cycle active fuel and 0.1524 meter length of graphite reflector at
length for the same discharge burnup. the top and bottom of active fuel.
A single batch fuel management scheme was adopted The full core consists of 256 fuel assemblies in a
for the NMR-50 to maximize the cycle burnup within the 18 18 layout and 57 cruciform control blades. The
same fuel enrichment. For the purpose of obtaining an equivalent core diameter is 2.73 meters. A schematic view
optimal fuel assembly design for the NMR-50 to fulfill the of the quarter core configuration of the NMR-50 is shown
goal of 10-year fuel cycle length, a series of parametric in Fig. 3.
studies were performed using CAMSO-4 on BWR type
fuel assemblies originated from GE or AVERA’s designs.
The studied parameters include the average U-235 wt%,
burnable poison (Gadolinium) enrichment, fuel rod
diameter, and so on. Based on these parametric studies, an
assembly design similar to AREVA’s Atrium-10B was
obtained for the NMR-50 core. The fuel rod configuration
of the assembly design is depicted in Fig. 2 with the
associated design and performance parameters presented
in Table II.

Reflector Fuel Control Blades

Fig. 3. X-Y view of the NMR-50 quarter core model.

To account for the thermal feedback during the core

simulation, RELAP5 was employed to model the T/H
components in the NMR-50. The nodalization diagram
used in REALP5 is illustrated in Fig. 4.
Height (cm)
230.9
Fig. 2. A schematic view of the NMR-50 assembly model.
210.9

Table II. Design and performance parameters of the 200.9

NMR-50 fuel assembly 178.9 (TAF)

Property Parameter
Average U-235 wt% 4.75
Average Gd wt% in Gd rod 3.50
Fuel rod diameter (mm) 10.55
Water/Fuel ratio 2.33
Specific power (W/gU) 8.76
Cycle burnup (GWd/T) 33.40
Cycle length (years) 10.44
Local peaking factor 1.27 41.4 (BAF)
k-inf at BOC 1.06059 30.0

20.0
As can be seen in Fig. 2, the assembly consists of 91
fuel rods laid over a 10 10 grid with a square–shaped 0.0
coolant channel in the center. Different fuel rod color
shown in the figure indicates different fissile enrichment in Fig. 4. RELAP5 nodalization diagram of the NMR-50
the fuel. Fuel rods with Gadolinium enriched are drawn core.
 The coolant flow inside fuel assembly boxes is calculations between PARCS and RELAP5 models. In the
assigned to three flow channels, representing the hot, RELAP5 calculations, the fuel assemblies were grouped
average and peripheral channels, respectively. The into three channels based on their relative thermal power.
inter-assembly water flow is represented with a separate The representative axial power distribution at BOC for the
bypass channel. The inlet and outlet plenum in the primary three different thermal channels are shown in Fig. 6.
loop of the reactor are also presented explicitly in the T/H
model shown in Fig. 4. The boundary conditions of the T/H
2.5
model were derived from the complete primary system Peripheral Channel
model calculation. The main T/H parameters of the Average Channel
Hot Channel
NMR-50 are shown in Table III. 2

Nomalized Power
Table III. T/H parameters for the NMR-50 T/H model 1.5

Property Parameter
1
Coolant rate (kg/h) 2.230 x 106
Nominal pressure (MPa) 7.178
Average quality 0.143 0.5

Coolant saturation temperature (oC) 2.873 x 102

Inlet temperature (oC) 2.785 x 102 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
Total flow area (m2) 4.013 Distance from the bottom (m)
Bypass flow area (m2) 1.763
Fig. 6. Axial power distribution at BOC for different flow
channels.
RESULTS
To examine the feasibility of the long fuel cycle
The core simulation started with a criticality operation of the NMR-50, a full cycle depletion calculation
calculation at the beginning of cycle (BOC) with all fresh was performed using the PARCS and RELAP5 coupled
fuel assemblies. The critical status was achieved by models. In the burnup calculation, the core criticality was
adjusting control rod position inserted to the core. The maintained at every burnup step by searching the critical
control rod insertion at BOC was not very significant since control rod position. Besides keff and the critical control rod
a large number of burnable poison enriched fuel rods in the position, the MFLPD and MCPR were also calculated at
fresh fuel assembly hold down the excess reactivity. The every burnup step to ensure thermal design limits were
resulting radial power distribution of the core at BOC is satisfied during the entire operating cycle.
illustrated in Fig. 5. The depletion calculation results indicate that the fuel
cycle can be successfully extended to 10 years with the
EOC assembly and core designs shown in Fig. 2 and 3,
1.6 respectively, while satisfying the constraints defined in
Table I. For representative purpose, the calculated results
1.4
at the beginning, middle and end of the cycle are reported
1.2 in Table IV.
1.5

1
1 Table IV. The NMR-50 core performance at BOC, MOC
0.5
0.8 and EOC of the 10 years operation life time.
0
150 0.6
100 Property BOC MOC EOC
150 0.4
50
100
Burn time (years) 0.00 4.83 9.99
0 50
-50 0
0.2 keff 0.99988 1.00010 1.00011
Y (cm)
-100
-100
-50
Notch1 1454 34602 7963
-150 -150 X (cm)
Avg. Burnup (GWd/T) 0.00 14.79 30.61
MFLPD (kW/m) 15.36 14.26 15.80
Fig. 5. Radial power distribution of the NMR-50 at BOC.
MCPR 2.25 1.97 2.79
1
The notch value is the sum of notches for all inserted control rods.
The BOC power behavior depicted in Fig. 5 is a
converged solution of the iterative neutronics and T/H
 1.8
BOC (Burnup=0.0 GWd/T ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
1.6 MOC (Burnup=14.8 GWd/T
EOC (Burnup=30.6 GWd/T
This research is being performed using funding
1.4
received from the DOE office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear
Energy University Programs (NEUP).
Normalized Power

1.2

The first author would also like to thank Dr. Yunlin

1
Xu from the Department of Nuclear Engineering &
0.8 Radiological Sciences at University of Michigan for
constantly providing assistance on PARCS inputs, and Mr.
0.6
Shanbin Shi from Prof. Ishii’s Lab at Purdue University for
0.4
supplying instructions on RELAP5 model.

0.2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 REFERENCES
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