Surface effects in the transport of airborne radioiodine at light water nuclear power plants. Final report

The current Light Water Reactors both BWR and PWR have extensive nuclear reactor safety systems, which provide safe and economical operation of Nuclear Power Plants. During about forty years of operation history the safety systems of Nuclear Power Plants have been upgraded in an evolutionary manner. The cost of safety systems, including large containments, is really high due to a capital cost and a long construction period. These conditions together with a low efficiency of steam cycle for LWR create problems to build new power plants in the USA and in the Europe. An advanced Boiling Water Reactor concept with micro-fuel elements (MFE) and superheated steam promises a radical enhancement of safety and improvement of economy of Nuclear Power Plants. In this paper, a new type of nuclear reactor is presented that consists of a steel-walled tube filled with millions of TRISO-coated fuel particles (Micro-Fuel Elements, MFE) directly cooled by a light-water coolant-moderator. Water is used as coolant that flows from bottom to top through the tube, thereby fluidizing the particle bed, and the moderator water flows in the reverse direction out of the tube. The fuel consists of spheres of about 2.5 mm diameter of UO2 with several coatings of different carbonaceous materials. The external coating of steam cycle the particles is silicon carbide (SiC), manufactured with chemical vapor deposit (CVD) technology. Steady-State Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis aims at providing heat transport capability which can match with the heat generated by the core, so as to provide a set of thermal hydraulic parameters of the primary loop. So the temperature distribution and the pressure losses along the direction of flow are calculated for equilibrium core in this paper. The calculation not only includes the liquid region, but the two phase region and the superheated steam region. The temperature distribution includes both the temperature parameters of micro-fuel elements and the coolant. The results show that the maximum fuel temperature is much lower than the limitation and the flow distribution can meet the cooling requirement in the reactor core.

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Supercritical-pressure, light-water-cooled reactors for economical nuclear power plants

Progress in Nuclear Energy ◽

10.1016/s0149-1970(97)00042-5 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 32 (3-4) ◽

pp. 547-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

S. Koshizuka ◽

Y. Oka

Keyword(s):

Nuclear Power ◽

Power Plants ◽

Nuclear Power Plants ◽

Supercritical Pressure ◽

Light Water

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Underground Siting of Nuclear Power Plants: Insights From Fukushima

Volume 2: Plant Systems, Structures, and Components; Safety and Security; Next Generation Systems; Heat Exchangers and Cooling Systems ◽

10.1115/icone20-power2012-54900 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Jay F. Kunze ◽

James M. Mahar ◽

Kellen M. Giraud ◽

C. W. Myers

Keyword(s):

Nuclear Power ◽

Power Plants ◽

Nuclear Power Plants ◽

Light Water Reactors ◽

Light Water ◽

Waste Storage ◽

Small Modular Reactor ◽

Fukushima Daiichi ◽

Water Reactors ◽

High Level

Siting of nuclear power plants in an underground nuclear park has been proposed by the authors in many previous publications, first focusing on how the present 1200 to 1600 MW-electric light water reactors could be sited underground, then including reprocessing and fuel manufacturing facilities, as well as high level permanent waste storage. Recently the focus has been on siting multiple small modular reactor systems. The recent incident at the Fukushima Daiichi site has prompted the authors to consider what the effects of a natural disaster such as the Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami would have had if these reactors had been located underground. This paper addresses how the reactors might have remained operable — assuming the designs we previously proposed — and what lessons from the Fukushima incident can be learned for underground nuclear power plant designs.

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