Reactor physics analysis for the design of nuclear fuel lattices with burnable poisons

The main goals in nuclear fuel lattice design are: (1) minimizing the rod power peaking factor (PPF) in order that the power level distribution is the most uniform; (2) obtaining a prescribed target value for the multiplication factor (k) at the end of the irradiation in order that the fuel lattice reaches the desired reactivity; and (3) obtaining a prescribed target value for the k at the beginning of the irradiation in order that the reactivity excess is neither a high value (to ease the maneuvering of the control systems) nor a low value (to avoid the penalization of the high cost of the burnable poison content). In this work a simple algorithm to design the burnable poison bearing nuclear fuel lattice is presented. This algorithm is based on a reactor physics analysis. The algorithm is focused on finding the radial distribution of the fuel rods having different fissile and burnable poison contents in order to obtain: (1) an adequate minimum PPF; (2) a prescribed target value of the k at the end of the irradiation; and (3) a prescribed target value of the k at the beginning of the irradiation. This algorithm is based on the factorization of the fissile and burnable poison contents of each fuel rod and on the application of the first-order perturbation theory. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated with the design of a fuel lattice composed of uranium dioxide (UO2) and gadolinium dioxide (Gd2O3) for boiling water reactors (BWR). This algorithm has been accomplished using HELIOS calculation codes. The results show that this simple algorithm is very efficient and precise.

► A fuel rod optimization for the coupled bundle-core design in a BWR is developed.
► An algorithm to minimize the rod power peaking factor is used.
► The fissile content is divided in two factors.
► A reactor physics analysis of these factors is performed.
► The algorithm is applied to a typical BWR fuel lattice.