1-D dynamic stability analysis of mixed-spectrum supercritical water reactor core

The supercritical water reactor (SCWR) is one of the most prominent Generation IV reactors due to its high efficiencies. However, the stability issues, which are mainly caused by the great changes of thermodynamic properties and transport properties of supercritical water near the pseudo-critical temperature, are a challenge to the system safety and must be studied carefully. This paper is focused on 1-D dynamic stability analysis of mixed-spectrum SCWR (SCWR-M) reactor core. To this end, a frequency-domain model has been developed for linear stability analysis, and marginal stability boundaries under both the fixed inlet flow boundary conditions and the fixed external pressures boundary conditions are generated, which indicate that the system normal operational condition is in stable regions. Parametric sensitivity studies in frequency domain have been carried out. Increasing the wall thermal conductivity and mass flows can increase system stability. The system is more stable if the thermal zone has a lower power fraction. System with the designed non-uniform axial power distribution is also more stable than with the uniform distribution. A time-domain model has also been developed for nonlinear analysis, and the system marginal stability boundaries calculated by this method is consistent with those by frequency domain method. The existence of transitional stable region has been observed. A more reasonable definition for system logarithmic decay ratio has been achieved. The SCWR-M core has a subcritical bifurcation characteristic under fixed external pressures boundary conditions, thus its dynamic behaviors are not only related to systematic parameters, but also to the amplitudes of perturbations.