Publications

Nuclear Fuel Cycle (NFC) Technology and Policy Program

Core Design Options for High Power Density BWRs

Final Report for Phase Two of a TEPCO Research Project

MIT-NFC-TR-106 (March 2009)

Abstract

The overall objective of this research is to assess the feasibility of increasing the core power by increasing the power density of existing and future BWRs, while maintaining the same accepted safety margins for today’s BWRs, and thus improve their economic performance. In principle, this may be achieved by varying the operating conditions, assembly geometry, fuel types, and/or fuel-pin designs. While some progress has been achieved over the years towards increasing the power density of BWRs, it has mainly come by three approaches: reducing the uncertainty about operating conditions, reducing the peak pin and assembly power factors and using a smaller diameter pins in the assemblies. This project will focus on what can be achieved through innovative geometry and/or materials of the fuel pins at fixed operating pressure, core inlet temperature, core exit enthalpy, and power distribution.