Impact of weight percent gadolinium and the number of its fuel rods on the neutronic and safety parameters

Uguru, Edwin Humphrey and Sapli, Mohd Faiq Bin Ahmad and Sani, Siti Fairus Abdul and Khandaker, Mayeen Uddin and Rabir, Mohamad Hairie and Karim, Julia Abdul and Bradley, David Andrew (2021) Impact of weight percent gadolinium and the number of its fuel rods on the neutronic and safety parameters. Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 188. ISSN 0969-806X, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2021.109686.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Control of neutron multiplication in a nuclear reactor is fundamental in achieving stable reactor power. The present study has sought to determine the impact of gadolinium weight percent (w/o) in respect of the number of fuel rods on the neutronic and safety parameters of (Th, U)O-2 fuel in a Westinghouse small modular reactor. The MCNPX 2.7 integrated with CINDER90 fuel depletion code was used. The results show that the k-infinite and reactivity swing peak decrease with increasing gadolinium weight percent, with the highest and lowest k-infinite recorded in the fuel assembly containing zero (0) and 12 w/o, respectively. The largest and lowest reactivity swing curve occurs in the fuel assembly with 3.6 and 12 w/o at similar to 15 and similar to 35 GWd/THM, respectively. It shows that the impact of gadolinium w/o and the number of fuel rods on k-infinite follow similar trend. Conversely, the reactivity swing curve is observed to flatten with increasing gadolinium w/o but increases with increase in the number of gadolinium burnable absorber fuel rods. These phenomenological variations suggest that flat reactivity swing and power control can be achieved within 9.2-12 w/o gadolinium although not without economic penalty on fuel utilisation.

Item Type: Article
Funders: University of Malaya, Malaysia through the RU Grant - Faculty Programme
Uncontrolled Keywords: Gadolinium;Neutronic;Reactivity;Safety parameters;Small modular reactor;Thorium
Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
Q Science > QD Chemistry
Divisions: Faculty of Science
Depositing User: Ms Zaharah Ramly
Date Deposited: 22 Aug 2022 04:31
Last Modified: 22 Aug 2022 04:31
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/28682

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item