Proceedings of GLOBAL 2005

Tsukuba, Japan, Oct 9-13, 2005

Paper No. 510

Neutronic Design Study of Small Long-live PWR with

(Th,U)O2 Fuel

Topan Setiadipura, M. Nurul S., Yuli Astuti and Zaki Su’ud

Dept. of Physics Bandung Institute of Technology
Jl. Ganesa 10 Bandung, Telp. 022-253-4094
e-mail: szaki@fi.itb.ac.id

ABSTRACT: Preliminary research on the utilization of (Th,U)O2 fuel in small long live PWR has been
performed. In this paper we discuss the results of neutronic optimization of the core design with the core
power level from 20 MWt up to 300 MWt. The core is designed to be able to operate (critically) 10 year
without refueling. The core reactor design is a cylindrical 2 dimension R-Z (radial and axial) with tall type
core. The optimization is run by varying the enrichment of the U-233 from 3w/o to 9 w/o with 0.25w/o
interval, and the configuration of the core region based on this enrichment, also varying the fuel fraction
from 35 % to 63.5%. The optimization also try to reduce the active core geometry as small as possible
Neutronic calculation is run on SRAC code with library of nuclide data from JENDL-3.2/3.3. For 20 MWth
reactor, the optimum design achieved in this research is the core with diameter 100cm and height 200cm,
able to operate for 10 year with maximum excess reactivity 4.6% ∆k/k. Fuel fraction of the optimum
design is 63.2%, with power density 16.5 W/cc. For 40 MWth and larger design, the excess reactivity is
about 5% but the power level is higher. From this research we also able to conclude some property of the
thorium based fuel to the U-233 enrichment and the moderation ratio or fuel fraction. As an example the
following figure shows the multiplication factor change during burnup for 20MWt reactors.

KEYWORDS : thorium, (Th,U)O2, refueling, PWR, excess reactivity, active core geometry, moderation
ratio, SRAC.

I. INTRODUCTION II. DESIGN CONCEPT

Small long life nuclear power plant with moderate
economical aspect is an important candidate for electric power
generation in remote area, such as many part outside Java-Bali
area in Indonesia. Such nuclear power reactors match with the
necessity and planning of many cities and provinces outside
Java-Bali islands. Small long life nuclear reactors, however,
usually has many problems. If we use standard power density
then the size of the core will be small, need high enrichment of
fissile material, and has large reactivity swing during burnup
which then can not fulfill the fourth generation nuclear reactor
criteria. In order that the reactors can be operated long time
continuously without refueling or fuel shuffling, it is necessary
to have relatively large internal conversion ratio so that we can
obtain optimal design with relatively low excess reactivity
during long time burnup.
Designing thermal reactor with relatively high internal
conversion ratio is a difficult job. Here we employ many
strategy to achieve that goal including the usage of thorium
cycle, employing Pa231 nuclide in the fuel, and also adopt tight
lattice concept.
In order to get good design for long life PWR which can be
operated 10 years or even more without refueling or fuel
shuffling, first we propose the usage of thorium cycle.
Thorium cycle in the thermal environment is superior than
uranium cycle in term of producing core with high internal
conversion ratio. As second step we introduce tight lattice core
concept t increase fuel volume fraction and together with
employing higher enrichment strategy we can get small core.
In order to further reduce reactivity swing during burnup we
add Pa231 to reduce initial excess reactivity at the beginning of
life (BOL), due to its high capture cross section so that acts
such as burnable poison, while supplying U233 at the later
stage of burnup by conversion process to U233 after two
neutron capture processes and beta decay. By arranging this
three strategy optimally the good design of long life PWR
without on site refueling or fuel shuffling with relatively low
excess reactivity during burnup can be achieved.
III. CALCULATION METHOD
 Proceedings of GLOBAL 2005
Tsukuba, Japan, Oct 9-13, 2005
Paper No. 510

The neutronic calculations in this study were run on SRAC Fig.1 shows that 0.2% Np237 can slightly reduce burnup k-
code system. The flow of calculation used in this study is inf change but the more significant reduction of k-inf swing
shown in Fig. 1. Cell calculations were performed using comes from addition of 0.2% of Am231 .
library based on public neutron data library JENDL.3.2. The
result of this calculation were used in the whole core
calculation using CITATION code which is embedded in the fuel fraction 60% and enrich 2% U233
SRAC code system. In whole core calculation two
1.15
dimensional R-Z geometry multigroup diffusion calculation
were carried out every year.
1.1
oxide

k-inf
0.2% Np
0.2% Pa
Start 1.05

1
0 2 4 6 8 10
SRAC PUBLIC Cell burnup (y)
LIBRARY CaLCULATION
Fig.1 k-inf change during burnup for Th based fuel, Th-Np237
based fuel and Th-Am231 based fuel
Homogenizat
SRAC USER U233-Np237
ion
LIBRARY 3% U233-0.9% Np
Fl 1.12
5% U233-3.3% Np
1.1 7% U233-6.6% Np
Core 9% U233-10.12% Np
Calculation 1.08
k-inf

10% U233-14.3% Np
1.06 13% U233-32% Np

1.04
Result 1.02
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
year
Fig. 2 The effect of Np237 content to k-inf change during
Finish
burnup for Th-Np237 based fuel

Fig. 1 SRAC Calculation flow diagram Fig. 2 shows that higher amount of Np237 combined with
higher U-233 enrichment results in better burnup k-inf pattern
change during long life burnup without refueling or fuel
IV CALCULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION shuffling. The use of 10% U-233 enrichment together with
14.3%Np237 give the burnup pattern relatively flat.
In this study we consider small and very small long life
PWR with the thermal power range between 20MWt and few U233-Pa231
hundred MWt. Table 1 show parameters used in cell burnup 1.09
calculation based parametric survey for few hundred MWt 3% U233 - Pa 0.7%
small long life PWR with Pu231 enhanced thorium fuel cycle. 1.08
6% U233 - Pa 4.0%
The results are shown in in Figs. 1-4. 1.07 7% U233 - Pa 5.5%
k-inf

8% U233 - Pa 7.2%
Table 1. general parameter for survey 1.06

233
Enrichment 2- 13% U 1.05

Burnable Poisons(BP) 0.2-12% 231Pa 1.04

0.2-32% 237Np 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
year
Fuel-clad-mod fraction 60%-10%-30% Fig. 3 The effect of U233 and Pa231 contents to the k-inf
Power Density 10-35 watt/cc change during burnup for Th-Am231 based fuel

Fig. 3 shows that higher amount of Pa231 combined with

higher U-233 enrichment results in better burnup k-inf pattern
change during long life burnup without refueling or fuel
 Proceedings of GLOBAL 2005
Tsukuba, Japan, Oct 9-13, 2005
Paper No. 510

shuffling. The use of 8% U-233 enrichment together with

7.2%Pa231 give the burnup pattern relatively flat. This value is
smaller than that of U-Th-Np237 sustem.
Fig. 4 shows the k-inf pattern change during long time
burnup for fixed 8% volume combined with various Pa231
content change.
It is shown that in order to reduce the core size, higher U-233
eneriched fuel is used. Thicker cladding thickness is also
chosen to anticipate long life operation burden.
1.014

enrichment U 8% and Pa 7.6% - 8% 1.012

1.01
1.04 7.6% Pa
1.008 Pa 9%
7.8% Pa
Pa 10%

K -eff
1.036
8% Pa 1.006
Pa 12%
1.032 1.004
k-inf

Pa 15%
1.028 1.002

1.024 1
0.998
1.02
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
year Burn Up (Year)
Fig. 4 The effect of Pa231 content to k-inf change during
burnup for Th-Pa231 based fuel Fig. 5 The effect of Pa231 content for 20 MWt long life PWR
burnup pattern change.
Fig.4 also show that if the amount of Pa231 is too low, the
initial excess reactivity is high and then sharply decreases In general higher Pa231 resulted in lower reactivity swing
before reach relatively stable area. But if Pa231 amount is too during long life burnup withour refueling or fuel shuffling.
much then initial excess reactivity will be low and after sharp However, beyond 12%, the addition of Pa231 is not
decrease at the beginning of life it becomes too low compared significantly further reduce reactivity swing.
to stable area (around 10~25 year). Therefore optimal amount
of Pa231 should be chosen.
Next we will discuss an example of parametric survey
results for small power reactors. Table 2 shows general
characteristics of 20MWt long life PWR without refueling or
fuel shuffling.

Table 2 Paramters for 20 MWt samples

Parameter Specification

Power (Thermal) 20 MWt

Refueling Periode 10 Year
Fuel (Th,U,Pa)O2 Fig. 6 Core configuration for 420MWt long life PWR without
Cladding Zircalloy (Zr) refueling or fuel shuffling

Coolant Light Water (H2O) After comparing the performance of U233-Th-Pa231 and
U -Th-Np237 fuels parametric survey results we decided to
233
Fuel Enrichment 12w/o-16w/o U-233
continue the detail design using U233-Th-Pa231 fuel due to its
Smear Density 90 % better performance than that of U233-Th-Np237 fuel.
Fig. 6 shows optimized configuration of small/medium
Fuel Volume Fraction 60% sized 420 MWth long life PWR without refueling or fuel
Pin Cell Type Circular Cylinder shuffling during its operation. Here we devide the active part
of thecore into three areas with different fuel composition.
Cladding thickness 0.07 Table 3 gives parameters of the optimized 420MWth long
life PWR core. It is shown that the enrichment of U-233 is
Pin pitch 1,4
 Proceedings of GLOBAL 2005
Tsukuba, Japan, Oct 9-13, 2005
Paper No. 510

ranged from 6-9%, while Pa231 content is ranged between 4.3 without refueling and fuel shuffling about than 1% dk/k.
– 9%. While Fig. 9 shows that for core configuration as shown in
Fig. 11, 12% of Pa231 give excess reactivity less than 1%
during 10 years long life burnup process.
Table 3. Specification of PWR 420 MWth core
V. CONCLUSION
Power 420 MWth Neutronic design study of small long-life Pressurized
Water Reactor (PWR) core loaded with thorium oxide fuel and
Operation period 28 year 231
Pa has been performed. From the parametric survey and
Shielding Zircalloy optimization process it is found that proper combination
among tight lattice concept, the use of thorium cycle and the
Coolant Light water (H20) employ of 231Pa gives good long life PWR which can be
Fuel Th-Pa-U oxide operated for 10 years or more without refueling and fuel
Enrichment U-233 6%-7%-9% shuffling with reasonably low excess reactivity during burnup.
Optimization of 420 MWt long life PWR resulted in a
Percentage Pa-231 4.3%-7%-9% long-life core design which operation time of 28 years, with
Fuel, cladding&moderator maximum excess reactivity during burnup of about 0.5% ∆k/k
60 %-10%-30%
volume fraction and flatted power distribution during its operation. Similarly
Power Density 28.1 watt/cc for 20 MWt very small long life PWR we found maximum
Dia. Pin 1.224 cm excess reactivity less than 1% dk/k for 10 years of operation
without refuling or fuel shuffling.
Pitch 1.4 cm
Core geometry Cylinder 2-D (R-Z) ACKOWLEDGEMENT
Cell geometry Square Cell
The authors would like tothank to Indonesian RUT XI
Active core size 130 cm x 280 cm Research project and Indonesian Ministry of Education B
Project for their support to this research
Reflector width 30 cm

Fig. 7 shows effective multiplication change suring long life REFERENCES

burnup without refueling or fuel shuffling for the 420 MWth
PWR. It is hsown that maximum excess reactvity during 1.. Yuli Astuti and Zaki S : “Preliminary design study of 40-
burnup is about 0.5% dk/k for about 25 years of operation. 100MWth Small PWR Using Thorium-Uranium Based Fuel”,

Multiplication Factor Tokyo Tech COE INES – Indonesia International Symposium,

Bandung, Indonesia, March 2-4, 2005
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2. Topan S. D. and Zaki S : “Neutronic Study Design of Very
1.004
Small Long Life PWR with (Th,U)U2 Fuel”, Tokyo Tech COE
1.002
INES – Indonesia International Symposium, Bandung,
k-eff

1
Indonesia, March 2-4, 2005
0.998
3. M. Nurul S . and Zaki S: “Design Study of Small Long Life
0.996
Th-U Fueled PWR”, Tokyo Tech COE INES – Indonesia
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
year International Symposium, Bandung, Indonesia, March 2-4,
2005
Fig. 7 Effective multiplication change during long life
burnup without refueling or fuel shuffling for 420 MWt PWR

Now we move to the optimized 20 MWt very small long life

PWR core. The example of calculation results is shown in
Figs. 8 and 9. While related core configurations are shown in
Figs. 10 and 11. As shown in Fig. 8, 10% Pa213 in this
configuration give excess reactivity during 10 years of burnup
 Proceedings of GLOBAL 2005
Tsukuba, Japan, Oct 9-13, 2005
Paper No. 510

13.25% U- 13.25% U- 13.5% U- 13.75% U-

14% U-233 14% U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233
13.25% U- 13.25% U- 13.5% U- 13.75% U-
14% U-233 14% U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233
13.25% U- 13.25% U- 13.5% U- 13.75% U-
14% U-233 14% U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233
13.75% U- 13.75% U- 13.75% U- 13.75% U-
14% U-233 14% U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233

14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 Reflektor

14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 14% U-233 Reflektor

Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor

Fig. 10 The core configuration of 20 MWth long life PWR with 10% Pa231 loaded in fuel.

13.75% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U-

14% U-233 14.75%U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233
14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U-
14% U-233 14% U-233 14.75%U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233
13.25% U- 13.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U-
14.75%U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233 233
14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U-
14.75%U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233 233
14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U- 14.25% U-
14.75%U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233 233
14.75%U- 14.75%U- 14.75%U- 14.75%U- 14.75%U-
14.75%U-233 Reflektor
233 233 233 233 233

Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor Reflektor

Fig. 11 The core configuration of 20 MWth long life PWR with 10% Pa231 loaded in fuel