A feasibility analysis of high conversion ratio pressurized water reactor designs

Graduation date: 1987A significant amount of interest has been\ud aroused recently concerning the advancement of the\ud current pressurized water reactor core designs with\ud a special emphasis towards improving the conversion\ud characteristics of these reactors. Most reports\ud have been divided into two camps; those that deal\ud with the neutronic aspects and those that deal with\ud the thersohydraulic concerns. Seldom do these two\ud areas get combined for purposes of evaluating a new\ud design.\ud In this effort, the author takes a pragmatic\ud approach to this area in so far as looking into\ud ways of incorporating this advanced technology into current operational power plants. In so doing the\ud Trojan Nuclear Power Plant was selected to serve as\ud the reference design plant. This was done since it\ud is a Westinghouse designed reactor, as are a large\ud portion of the PWR's in the United States, and\ud because it has one of the largest thermal power\ud ratings in the nation as well.\ud Both neutronic and thermohydraulic aspects are\ud examined as well as an alternative fuel concept.\ud In order to carry out the analysis computer codes\ud COBRA-IV and LEOPARD were employed on a CYBER\ud 170/710 mainframe computer. COBRA-IV was used to\ud obtain results relating to the associated pressure\ud loss and core temperature characteristics while\ud LEOPARD was used for the neutronic aspects. A\ud parametric study was initiated using fuel\ud enrichment and pitch as the variables that would be\ud systematically changed. As an additional factor to\ud assure cross compatibility, the fuel rod diameter\ud was held to a constant value throughout this\ud analysis.\ud Results of this research strongly indicate\ud that current operational power plants can be\ud effectively altered to become converters or low level breeders with only configurational changes in\ud the core itself and no major equipment changes.\ud Hence the author concludes that this concept is\ud both feasible and readily attainable with the\ud current level of technology.\ud An additional benefit that would be realized\ud under the adoption of this design would be the\ud marked improvement in the utilization of uranium\ud ore which ultimately becomes fuel. This would\ud directly result in the extension of the power\ud generation capability associated with nuclear\ud power well into the next century