JP2013148515A - Initial loading reactor core - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an initial loading reactor core of a nuclear reactor excellent in a thermal characteristic and a furnace shutdown margin by making the total number of loaded fuel assemblies of a first cycle less than the total number of loaded fuel assemblies on and after a second cycle to improve an FCC.SOLUTION: The total number of loaded fuel assemblies 1 to 3 in an initial loading reactor core is made less than the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the reactor core of each cycle on and after the second cycle, and a pseudo fuel assembly including a device 25 having an external form equal to a fuel assembly to reduce a flowing coolant is loaded at a position where the fuel assemblies 1 to 3 are not loaded in the first cycle.

Description

  The present invention relates to an initial loading core of a nuclear reactor.

  In the initial loading core of a boiling water reactor (hereinafter referred to as BWR), a part of the loaded fuel assembly is taken out after the first cycle operation and replaced with a new replacement fuel assembly. The fuel assembly taken out in the first cycle has a lower burnup than other fuel assemblies and has a lower fuel cycle cost (hereinafter referred to as FCC). Here, the FCC is (total cost including from production of fuel assemblies to disposal measures) / (total energy generated until the fuel is taken out).

  In order to improve the FCC, an initial loading core using a plurality of fuel assemblies in which the uranium enrichment is changed according to the period of stay in the reactor after the initial loading is known. In order to further improve FCC, Patent Document 1 describes a core in which a fuel assembly is not loaded on the outermost periphery of the core in the first cycle.

Patent No. 2550381

  However, in the initial loading core described in Patent Document 1, since the fuel assembly is not loaded on the outermost periphery of the core, the flow resistance at the outermost peripheral portion of the core is lower than the other portions, and that portion does not require heat removal. Regardless, a lot of coolant flows and the thermal characteristics of other fuel assemblies that require heat removal are deteriorated. Further, the control rod is usually inserted in the center of the cell as a group of four fuel assemblies and is held by the fuel assembly, but the control rod of the cell not loaded with the fuel assembly at the outermost periphery of the core is inserted. There was a problem that the furnace shutdown margin deteriorated.

  The object of the present invention is to improve the FCC by reducing the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the first cycle from the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the second and subsequent cycles, and to improve thermal characteristics and furnace shutdown margin. It is to provide an excellent first reactor core.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the means described in the respective claims, and typical examples thereof are as follows.

  In the initial loading core of the nuclear reactor, the total number of loaded fuel assemblies is less than the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the core of each cycle after the second cycle, and the fuel assemblies are not loaded at the positions. An initially loaded core having a pseudo fuel assembly having an outer shape equivalent to that of the fuel assembly and having a device for reducing a flowing coolant.

  In addition, the fuel assembly has a device having an outer shape equivalent to that of the fuel assembly at a position where the multiple fuel assemblies are not loaded, and reduces the flowing coolant, and has vibration characteristics equivalent to those of the fuel assembly. A simulated fuel assembly may be loaded.

  By loading the pseudo fuel assemblies in this way, the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the first cycle is less than the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the second and subsequent cycles, and the FCC is improved. Thermal characteristics and furnace shutdown margin can be obtained.

  According to the present invention, the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the first cycle is less than the total number of loaded fuel assemblies in the second and subsequent cycles, thereby improving FCC, and excellent thermal characteristics and furnaces. A stop margin can be obtained.

It is a figure which shows the 2nd quadrant of the 1/4 cross section of the initial loading core of the boiling water reactor (henceforth BWR) which is 1st Example of this invention. It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view which looked at the fuel assembly from the side. It is a figure which shows the lower tie plate of a normal fuel assembly, and an upper side is a top view and a lower side is a side view. It is a top view which shows the lower tie plate of a pseudo fuel assembly. It is a figure which shows the 2nd quadrant of a general initial loading core (comparative example 1). It is a figure which shows the 2nd quadrant of the first loading core (comparative example 2) described in patent document 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the 2nd quadrant of the 1/4 cross section of the initial loading core of the boiling water reactor (henceforth BWR) which is 2nd Example of this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a result of comparing FCC when a deteriorated uranium fuel assembly is loaded into an initially loaded core and not reprocessed after the fuel assembly is taken out and compared with a normal initially loaded core. It is a figure which shows the 2nd quadrant of the 1/4 cross section of the initial loading core of the boiling water reactor (henceforth BWR) which is 3rd Example of this invention.

  A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the second quadrant of a quarter cross section of the initial loading core of a boiling water reactor (hereinafter referred to as BWR) which is the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, one mass represents one fuel assembly, and 764 fuel assemblies are loaded in the entire core. The numbers in the mass represent the types of fuel assemblies, 1 and 2 are highly enriched fuels, 3 is low enriched fuel, and 5 is a pseudo fuel assembly. The simulated fuel assembly 5 is loaded in the outermost peripheral region of the core that is the outer peripheral region of the core for one layer of the fuel assembly.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 4 denotes a control rod. Although the control rod 4 shows only the outer peripheral region in the figure, actually, the control rod is similarly arranged in the inner region. A thick frame 6 in the figure is a control cell. Of these control cells 6, control rods are inserted by a predetermined depth with respect to a predetermined proportion of control cells, and the output of the core is suppressed.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view (longitudinal cross-sectional view) of the fuel assemblies 1 to 3 as viewed from the side. Each of the fuel assemblies 1 to 3 is positioned between a large number of fuel rods 11, two water rods 12, and the upper and lower portions of the fuel rods 11 and the water rods 12. The spacers 13 are bundled to form a fuel bundle by keeping the distance between the upper tie plate 14 and the upper tie plate 14 that supports the upper portions of the fuel rods 11 and the water rods 12, and the lower tie plate 15 that supports the lower portions of the fuel rods 11 and the water rods 12. And a fuel bundle of fuel rods 11 and water rods 12 and a channel box 16 made of Zircaloy covering the outer peripheries of the upper and lower tie plates 14 and 15.

  The pseudo fuel assembly 5 is also configured in the same manner as the fuel assemblies 1 to 3 except for the following points. In FIG. 2, the components of the pseudo fuel assembly 5 are indicated by parentheses.

  Similar to the fuel assemblies 1 to 3, the pseudo fuel assembly 5 includes a fuel bundle of fuel rods 21 and water rods 22 bundled by a spacer 23 and outer peripheries of upper and lower tie plates 24 and 25, and a channel box 26 made of Zircaloy. The pseudo fuel assembly 5 has the same outer diameter as that of the fuel assemblies 1 to 3. However, the fuel rods 21 of the pseudo fuel assemblies 5 are pseudo fuel rods, and uranium dioxide pellets are inserted into the fuel rods 11 of the fuel assemblies 1-3, whereas the fuel rods of the pseudo fuel assemblies 5 A pseudo pellet made of lead is inserted into 21. The density of uranium dioxide pellets and lead is equivalent at about 11 g / cm3, and as a result, their specific gravity is also equivalent. Further, the lower tie plate 25 of the pseudo fuel assembly 5 constitutes a device for reducing the coolant flowing through the pseudo fuel assembly 5 (described later).

  FIG. 3 is a view showing a lower tie plate (normal lower tie plate) 15 of the fuel assemblies 1 to 3, wherein the upper side is a top view and the lower side is a side view.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the normal lower tie plate 15 includes a cylindrical portion 15b having a coolant inlet 15a at the lower end and a flow passage 15g (see FIG. 2) formed therein, and an upper end of the cylindrical portion 15b. In addition to the insertion hole 15d of the fuel rod 11 and the insertion hole 15e of the water rod 12, a large number of coolant inflow holes 15f are formed in the upper support plate 15c.

  FIG. 4 is a view showing the lower tie plate 25 of the pseudo fuel assembly 5, and is a top view corresponding to the upper side of FIG.

  Similarly to the normal lower tie plate 15, the lower tie plate 25 of the pseudo fuel assembly 5 has a cylindrical portion 25d (see FIG. 2) having a coolant inlet 25a and a coolant passage 25g formed therein, and an upper support plate. 25c, and an insertion hole 25d for the fuel rod 21 and an insertion hole 25e for the water rod 22 are formed in the upper support plate 25c. However, unlike the normal lower tie plate 15, the lower tie plate 25 is not formed with a coolant inflow hole. For this reason, except for the supply of the cooling water flowing through the gap between the lower tie plate 25 and the channel box 26, the inside of the channel box 26 becomes muddy water. Thus, the lower tie plate 25 constitutes a device for reducing the coolant flowing through the pseudo fuel assembly 5.

  Further, the simulated fuel assembly 5 has a smaller number of fuel rods 21 than the fuel assemblies 1 to 3 or is an inexpensive material, or the spacer 23 has no accessory for stirring the coolant, Either the number of spacers 23 is small, the number of short fuel rods included in the fuel rod 21 is small, or the number of water rods 22 is small.

  The effect of the present embodiment will be described.

  First, as a comparative example, FIG. 5 shows a second quadrant of a general initial loading core (Comparative Example 1), and FIG. 6 shows a second quadrant of the initial loading core described in Patent Document 1 (Comparative Example 2). . In the initial loading core shown in FIG. 5, in order to improve the fuel cycle cost (FCC), a plurality of fuel assemblies with different uranium enrichments are loaded according to the residence time in the reactor, and the outermost core of the initial loading core is loaded. A highly enriched fuel assembly 2 is loaded in the region. In FIG. 6, an X mark on the outermost periphery of the core means that no fuel assembly is loaded. Thus, in the initial loading core of Patent Document 1 shown in FIG. 6, in order to further improve the FCC, the fuel assembly is not loaded on the outermost periphery of the core.

  However, in the initial loading core shown in FIG. 6, since the fuel assembly is not loaded on the outermost periphery of the core, the flow resistance at the outermost peripheral portion of the core is lower than other portions, and that portion does not require heat removal. Regardless, a lot of coolant flows and the thermal characteristics of other fuel assemblies that require heat removal are deteriorated. The control rod 4 is normally inserted into the center of a cell that is a set of four fuel assemblies and is held by the fuel assembly, but the control rod 4 of a cell that does not load the fuel assembly at the outermost periphery of the core is There was a problem that it could not be inserted and the furnace shutdown margin deteriorated.

  On the other hand, in the initial loading core of the present embodiment, the pseudo fuel assembly 5 is loaded on the outermost periphery of the core as shown in FIG. 1, and therefore the pseudo fuel assembly 5 is not loaded on the outermost periphery of the core. The cooling water flowing through the position in the initial loading core flows through the other fuel assemblies 1 to 3, and heat removal from these fuel assemblies 1 to 3 is promoted. In the case of the present embodiment, the limit output can be improved by about 3% compared to the initial loading core in which the pseudo fuel assembly 5 is not loaded on the outermost periphery of the core in FIG.

  In addition, when the simulated fuel assembly 5 is not loaded on the outermost periphery of the core, the control rod 4 located at the location needs to be fully pulled out because it is not supported by the fuel assembly on the outermost periphery of the core. By loading the fuel assembly 5, the control rod 4 at the outermost peripheral position can be held together with the fuel assemblies 1 and 2, and the control rod 4 can be inserted and extracted as usual. Thereby, deterioration of a furnace stop margin can be avoided.

  Further, in this embodiment, lead is used as the pseudo pellet, but as described above, the uranium dioxide pellet and the lead pseudo pellet have substantially the same specific gravity, and the vibration characteristics during earthquake as a fuel assembly are normal fuel assemblies. It is the same as 1-3. Thereby, the control rod emergency insertion performance at the time of an earthquake does not deteriorate compared with the case where normal fuel is loaded on the outermost periphery.

  A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 7, the initially loaded core of this embodiment is loaded with a deteriorated uranium fuel assembly (pseudo fuel assembly) 5A in which all fuel rods are filled with deteriorated uranium pellets at the outermost peripheral position of the core.

  The deteriorated uranium pellet filled in the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A is a pellet having a smaller amount of fissile material than natural uranium. The deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A has a small amount of fissile material and cannot be used as a normal fuel assembly because it cannot constitute a core.

  Further, as a feature of the present embodiment, the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A is preferentially taken out from the furnace after the end of the first cycle, but unlike a normal fuel assembly, it is reprocessed to take out plutonium and excess uranium. Do not do.

  FIG. 8 shows the result of comparing the FCC when the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A is loaded into the initial loading core as shown in FIG. 7 and is not reprocessed after the fuel assembly is taken out and compared with the normal initial loading core. FIG.

  FIG. 8 shows that FCC is improved in the present invention. In particular, in the first cycle, since there are few fuel assemblies loaded in the nuclear reactor, there is an advantage that the initial investment can be reduced.

  In addition, the current initial loading core has a high fuel assembly enrichment and can be operated continuously for two cycles. For this reason, the excess reactivity of the second cycle becomes considerably high, and the core characteristics tend to deteriorate. On the other hand, in this embodiment, a new fuel assembly is loaded instead of the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A taken out after the end of the first cycle. However, since the gadolinia is unburned in the new fuel assembly, excess reactivity is easily achieved. It is possible to suppress it.

  Further, since the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A of this embodiment has a low reactivity, the thermal characteristics do not become severe. Therefore, an apparatus for improving the thermal characteristics is not required as compared with the other fuel assemblies 1 to 3, for example, the fuel grid is not 9 rows and 10 columns but 9 rows and 9 columns, In order to improve this, the coolant stirring blade attached to the spacer may not be provided. By doing so, it is possible to keep the manufacturing cost of the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A low.

  In this embodiment, only the depleted uranium pellets are used for the pseudo fuel assembly 5A, but as described above, when the fissile material is less than about 1 wt% with respect to the weight of the initial heavy element, the reprocessing is performed. If not considered, it is possible to use natural uranium and some enriched uranium.

  A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 9, the initially loaded core of this embodiment is loaded with a depleted uranium fuel assembly (pseudo fuel assembly) 5A in which all fuel rods are filled with depleted uranium pellets at the outermost peripheral position of the core and a part of the control cell 6. doing. The deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A loaded in a part of the control cell is preferentially loaded in the control cell in the cell in which the control rod is inserted during the initial operation of combustion.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A is loaded in a control cell into which control rods are inserted during the initial operation of combustion.

  The channel box 16 (see FIG. 2) of the fuel assembly loaded in the cell in which the control rod is inserted in the first cycle may cause the channel box 26 to bend due to a phenomenon called shadow corrosion. However, since the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A is used for such a cell and is taken out after the end of the first cycle, even if the channel box 26 is bent, no problem occurs in the subsequent operation. .

  In addition, since the local peaking of the fuel assembly is high at the initial stage of combustion, the linear power density of the fuel rod tends to increase at the part where the axial peaking is slightly higher than the height position where the control rod is inserted. Since the deteriorated uranium fuel assembly 5A of the present embodiment has a sufficiently low assembly output, such a problem does not occur.

1 Fuel assembly (highly enriched fuel)
2 Fuel assembly (highly enriched fuel)
3 Fuel assembly (low enriched fuel)
4 Control rod 5 Pseudo fuel assembly 5A Depleted uranium fuel assembly (pseudo fuel assembly)
6 Control cell 11 Fuel rod 12 Water rod
13 Spacer 14 Upper tie plate 15 Lower tie plate 16 Channel box 21 Fuel rod 22 Water rod
23 Spacer 24 Upper tie plate 25 Lower tie plate 25c Upper support plate 25d Fuel rod insertion hole 25e Water rod insertion hole 26 Channel box

Claims (6)

In the initial loading core of a nuclear reactor where a large number of fuel assemblies are regularly arranged and loaded,
The total number of fuel assemblies in the core constituting the core is less than the total number of fuel assemblies in the core of each cycle after the second cycle,
An initial loading core, wherein a pseudo fuel assembly having an outer shape equivalent to that of the fuel assembly and having a device for reducing a flowing coolant is loaded at a position where the fuel assembly is not loaded. In the initial loading core of a nuclear reactor where a large number of fuel assemblies are regularly arranged and loaded,
The total number of fuel assemblies in the core constituting the core is less than the total number of fuel assemblies in the core of each cycle after the second cycle,
A pseudo fuel assembly having an outer shape equivalent to that of the fuel assembly at a position where the fuel assembly is not loaded, a device for reducing a flowing coolant, and vibration characteristics equivalent to those of the fuel assembly. The first loaded core, characterized by loading.   2. The simulated fuel assembly includes fuel rods, and the fuel rods are filled with pellets having a smaller ratio of fissile material than natural uranium, and the simulated fuel assemblies are not reprocessed. Or the first loading core of 2   The initially loaded core according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pseudo fuel assembly is loaded on at least one of a core outer peripheral region and a control cell.   5. The initial loading core according to claim 4, wherein the pseudo fuel assembly is loaded in an outer peripheral region of the core for one layer of the fuel assembly.   Compared to the fuel assembly, the pseudo fuel assembly has a smaller number of fuel rods, is an inexpensive material, does not have an accessory for stirring the coolant in the spacer, has a small number of spacers, The initial loading core according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the number of fuel rods is small or the number of water rods is small.

Images