Icone11-36415 Deterministic Safety of the Brest Reactors

Orlov, V. V.; Smirnov, V. S.; Filin, A. I.; Sila-Novitsky, A. G.; Leonov, V. P.; Tsikunov, V. S.; Barinov, S.V.; Kogut, V. A.

doi:10.1299/jsmeicone.2003.180

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…According to the developers of BREST projects, their implementation is possible within the framework of existing Russian technologies [14]. The key works that initiated the development of the BREST direction can be considered articles [13,[26][27][28].…”

Section: Modern Directions Of Development Of Power Lmfrsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accident Tolerant Materials for LMFR

Okunev¹

2021

Nuclear Materials

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Several concepts of fast reactors with liquid metal coolant (LMFR) are being developed in the world. Lead-cooled reactors are most preferred for the safe nuclear power of the future. Projects of such reactors are being developed in Russia (BREST), the European Union (the latest development is ALFRED), and the USA (a series of STAR low-power reactor designs). The potential capabilities of fuel, coolant, and structural materials considered for use in the core to increase safety have not been exhausted. There are still unused reserves that can significantly increase the self-protection of the reactor. This chapter presents the results of the analysis of the use of new types of nuclear fuel: based on ceramics and beryllium and ceramics and uranium nanopowder. Studies are being conducted on the possibility of optimizing the composition of lead coolant without isotope separation. The possibilities of improving the safety of LMFR with a coolant based on lead extracted from thorium ores are being investigated. The possibility of using tungsten coatings of the cladding of fuel pins deposited using low-temperature plasma spraying is analyzed. The composition of materials was optimized in terms of improving reactor safety. The proposed innovations will significantly increase the self-protection of the reactor from the totality of severe accidents.

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Section: Modern Directions Of Development Of Power Lmfrsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accident Tolerant Materials for LMFR

Okunev¹

2021

Nuclear Materials

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“…From the viewpoint of nuclear safety, it would be good to have the reactivity margin less than the effective fraction of delayed neutrons. Such problem is addressed in the design project of BREST-300 reactor (Orlov et al 2003).…”

Section: Selected Functionals and Calculation Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneous effects in simulating a fast nuclear reactor on the BFS test facility

Kazansky¹,

Karpovich

2019

NUCET

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Simulating fast neutron reactor cores for comparing experimental and calculated data on the reactor neutronics characteristics is performed using zero power test stands. The BFS test facilities in operation in Russia (Obninsk) are discussed in the present paper. The geometrical arrangement of materials in the cores of the simulated reactors (fuel pins, fuel assemblies, coolant geometry) differs from the simulation assembly on the BFS. This can cause differences between the experimental results obtained at the BFS and theoretical calculations even in the case when homogenized concentrations of all materials of the reactor are thoroughly observed. The resulting differences in neutronics parameters due to the geometry of arrangement of materials with the same homogeneous concentrations are referred to as the heterogeneous effect. Heterogeneous effects tend to increase with increasing reactor power and its size, mainly due to changes in the neutron spectra. Calculations of a number of functional values were carried out for assessing the heterogeneous effects for different spatial arrangements of the reactor materials. The calculations were performed for the following cases: a) heterogeneous distribution of materials in accordance with the design of a fast reactor; b) heterogeneous arrangement of materials in accordance with the capabilities and design features of the BFS test facility; c) homogeneous representation of materials in the reactor core and breeding blankets. The configuration of materials in accordance with the design data for fast reactors of the BN-1200 type was accepted as the basic calculation option, relative to which the effect called the heterogeneous shift of the functional value (HSF) was calculated. The effect of neutron leakage on the HSF obtained as the result of calculations using different boundary conditions was estimated. All calculations were carried out for the same homogeneous concentrations of all materials for all the above three configurations. Calculations were carried out as well for the case when plutonium metal fuel was used in the BFS. The values of the following functionals were calculated for different cases of arrangement of materials: the effective multiplication factor (reactivity), the sodium void reactivity effect, the average energy of fission-inducing neutrons, and the ratios of radioactive capture cross-sections to fission cross-sections for 239Pu. The calculations were performed using the Serpent 2.1.30 (VTT, Finland) Monte Carlo software package for neutronics simulations and ENDF/B-VII.0 and JEFF-3.1.1 evaluated nuclear data libraries. The effects of various options of material arrangement on the values of keff were found to be the greatest (about 1.6%) for the case when fissile material in the form of dioxide is replaced with metal fissile material. Homogenization of the composition reduces the keff value by about 0.4%. The average energy of fission-inducing neutrons depends to a significant extent on the leakage of neutrons and the presence of sodium (the average energy of neutrons increases and reaches in the presence of sodium about 100 keV, that is, it increases by about 11–13%). Replacing fissile material metal with its dioxide in the BFS test facility (while maintaining homogeneous concentrations, including that of oxygen) allows reducing the average energy of fission-inducing neutrons by about 60 keV. The highest values of HSF, reaching 65%, are observed when calculation of sodium void reactivity effect is performed with materials distributed homogeneously; however, HSF is equal to 1.5% when calculation of the reactor mock-up assembled on the BFS is performed. In the absence of neutron leakage (infinitely extended medium), the sodium void reactivity effect becomes positive and the HSF is equal to 4–7%. The heterogeneous effect of α for 239Pu noticeably (6–8%) depends only on the replacement of metallic plutonium with its dioxide (maintaining, of course, the homogeneous concentrations).

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“…To perform a preliminary test of the LegoPC capabilities in LFR modelling, taking as reference the available data of the BREST 300 [10][11][12] (Tables 1 and 2) the simplified model of a plant section was built (Fig. 5).…”

Section: Brest 300 Steam Generator Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%