Thermal hydraulic analysis for grid supported pressurized water reactor cores

This paper presents the methodology and results for thermal hydraulic analysis of grid supported pressurized water reactor cores using U(45% wt)–ZrH1.6 hydride fuel in square arrays. The same methodology is applied to the design of UO2 oxide fueled cores to provide a fair comparison of the achievable power between the two fuel types. Steady-state and transient design limits are considered. Steady-state limits include: fuel bundle pressure drop, departure from nucleate boiling ratio, fuel temperature (average for UO2 and centerline/peak for U–ZrH1.6), and fuel rod vibrations and wear. Transient limits are derived from consideration of the loss of flow and loss of coolant accidents, and an overpower transient.In general, the thermal hydraulic performance of U–ZrH1.6 and UO2 fuels is very similar. Slight power differences exist between the two fuel types for designs limited by rod vibrations and wear, because these limits are fuel dependent. Large power increases are achievable for both fuels when compared to the reference core power output of 3800 MWth. In general, these higher power designs have smaller rod diameters and larger pitch-to-diameter ratios than the reference core geometry. If the pressure drop across new core designs is limited to the pressure drop across the reference core, power increases of ∼400 MWth may be realized. If the primary coolant pumps and core internals could be designed to accommodate a core pressure drop equal to twice the reference core pressure drop, power increases of ∼1000 MWth may be feasible.