A Conceptual Study of a Supercritical CO 2 -Cooled Micro Modular Reactor

Hwanyeal Yu, Donny Hartanto, Jangsik Moon and Yonghee Kim
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Hwanyeal Yu: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea
Donny Hartanto: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea
Jangsik Moon: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea
Yonghee Kim: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: A neutronics conceptual study of a supercritical CO 2 -cooled micro modular reactor (MMR) has been performed in this work. The suggested MMR is an extremely compact and truck-transportable nuclear reactor. The thermal power of the MMR is 36.2 MWth and it is designed to have a 20-year lifetime without refueling. A salient feature of the MMR is that all the components including the generator are integrated in a small reactor vessel. For a minimal volume and long lifetime of the MMR core, a fast neutron spectrum is utilized in this work. To enhance neutron economy and maximize the fuel volume fraction in the core, a high-density uranium mono-nitride U 15 N fuel is used in the fast-spectrum MMR. Unlike the conventional supercritical CO 2 -cooled fast reactors, a replaceable fixed absorber (RFA) is introduced in a unique way to minimize the excess reactivity and the power peaking factor of the core. For a compact core design, the drum-type control absorber is adopted as the primary reactivity control mechanism. In this study, the neutronics analyses and depletions have been performed by using the continuous energy Monte Carlo Serpent code with the evaluated nuclear data file ENDF/B-VII.1 Library. The MMR core is characterized in view of several important safety parameters such as control system worth, fuel temperature coefficient (FTC) and coolant void reactivity (CVR), etc. In addition, a preliminary thermal-hydraulic analysis has also been performed for the hottest channel of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) MMR.

Keywords: micro modular reactor (MMR); supercritical CO 2 coolant; uranium mono-nitride (UN) fuel; control drum; replaceable fixed absorber (RFA); Serpent (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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