Design Study of 300 MWt PWR Fueled With UO

A neutronic design was performed for 300 MWt Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) with UO2 compacts made of coated fuel particles (CFP) comparing that with sintered pellets made of UO2 powder as ordinary fuel type. UO2 CFP type was enriched 4.8% of 235 U and UO2 ordinary type was enriched 5% of 235 U. Both reactors were operated with single batch refueling system with a cycle period of 3 years. The purpose of the design was to investigate the applicability of UO2 CFP type to PWR comparing with UO2 ordinary type that commonly used for PWR. The calculation was done with SRAC (Standard Reactor Analysis Code) computer code and nuclear library of JENDL-33. The results of calculation showed that k-effective for both type of fuel could be maintained at critical condition for 3 years operation without refueling. The k-effective and the Doppler coefficients have been calculated for all types of fuel at 600 K and 900 K degrees. The results of calculation showed that for all types of fuel Doppler coefficient was negative, which was good for inherent safety characteristic. The size optimization design showed that the active core dimensions of UO2 CFP type reactor was about 2 times larger than the UO2 ordinary type reactor.Copyright © 2006 by ASME