You searched for modelling-of-nuclear-fuel-behaviour

Inside the Candu MCR simulator
12 December, 2018
The Candu MCR simulator continues to be a much-used asset providing valuable hours to experiment, test ideas without real-world risk and learn from simulated malfunctions that would be rare in operational control rooms. Susan Creber and Robert Leger give an overview of the system.

Bringing Beznau 1 back online
21 June, 2018
Beznau 1 recently returned to service after the Swiss regulator confirmed aluminium oxide inclusions in the reactor pressure vessel do not affect the unit’s safety case. Michael Dost looks back at over three years of testing and analyses that helped get the world’s oldest PWR back into operation.

Molten salt reactors spark interest in USA and Denmark
06 April, 2018
Terrestrial Energy USA and Energy Northwest on 31 March signed a memorandum of understanding on possible siting, construction and operation of an Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in southeastern Idaho. Terrestrial Energy USA, part of Terrestrial Energy Inc, is developing the IMSR for deployment in the US market. Terrestrial's IMSR integrates the primary reactor components, including the graphite moderator, into a sealed and replaceable reactor core. The reactor, which can produce 400MWt (190MWe), is a modular design for factory fabrication. Terrestrial hopes the IMSR can be brought to market in the 2020s and began a feasibility study in 2017 to site a commercial IMSR at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories' Chalk River site. The reactor design has already completed the first phase of the Canadian Nuclear Regulatory Commission's vendor design review. It announced in January that it plans to submit an application for design certification or for a construction permit to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission by October 2019.

Going digital
28 February, 2018
The UK’s new Industrial Strategy and Nuclear Sector Deal aim for rapid growth in advanced computing and simulation to beat foreign competition, Ian Jackson explains.

US accident tolerant fuels to begin tests
15 February, 2018
US-based Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF) said on 8 February that it had manufactured and shipped batches of test assemblies of its IronClad and Armor accident tolerant fuels (ATFs) for installation at Southern Nuclear Operating Company’s two-unit Hatch nuclear plant in early 2018.

Russian physicists announce advance in nuclear fuel research
05 January, 2017
Physicists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Joint Institute for High Temperatures (JIHT) of the Russian Academy of Sciences have identified the mobility of line defects, or dislocations, in uranium dioxide.

Flow of knowledge
13 December, 2016
Water chemistry in nuclear plants is a key area of recent focus in research and discussions internationally reports Patrick Reynolds.

Fusion energy goal still elusive, despite progress
17 February, 2016
Fusion research and development worldwide has produced notable technical advances, but still no clear path forward to efficient, economical power generation. A recent US fusion meeting highlighted both the achievements and the many challenges that remain. By Thecla Fabian

Lithuania regulator accepts modified used fuel containers
27 July, 2015
Lithuania's nuclear regulator, VATESI, has granted a positive safety statement on the Constor RBMK1500/M2 containers, supplied by Germany's GNS, and intended for storage of used nuclear fuel from the two RBMK reactors at Ignalina, which is now being decommissioned.

Jules Horowitz takes shape
28 January, 2015
The Jules Horowitz materials testing reactor is set to become a major scientific hub for nuclear research, radioisotope production and training. By Xavier Bravo and Gilles Bignan.

Evaluating the safety of new fuel types. Part 2: accident & storage conditions
29 October, 2014
Determining the overall safety level for a new nuclear fuel is not trivial because it involves balancing a host of attributes in several operating scenarios. Currently, there is no focussed, peer-reviewed guidance to help perform such assessments. The work described here, based on a report by the World Nuclear Association’s Fuel Technology Working Group, is intended to be a starting point for formal safety assessment. By Julian Kelly

EDF Energy publishes AGR graphite loss levels
11 July, 2014
The operator of the UK’s 14 advanced gas-cooled reactors has released information about the ageing of the graphite blocks in the reactor core, which roughly corresponds to about a 10% loss of weight over the fleet.

A passive heat removal retrofit for BWRs
15 November, 2013
One of the fundamental safety functions of nuclear power plants is residual heat removal. Nevertheless, during certain scenarios, like the station blackout, or loss of the ultimate heat sink, available active safety systems are often not sufficient to remove the decay heat. A retrofitted turbo-compressor system driven by a self-cooling Brayton cycle could provide autarky even in these beyond design basis accidents and extend the grace period of existing BWRs significantly. By Jeanne Venker

Computer modelling of pebble beds
30 October, 2013
Researchers at NRG in the Netherlands are working on computer models and experiments to give insights into the core behaviour of the new generation of pebble-bed high-temperature reactors.

Using neutron noise to determine void fraction
06 September, 2013
A long-known dependence of neutron noise phenomena on void fraction has become the basis of a useful online monitoring technique that backs up computational models and improves operations. Calculations have shown good agreement with simulated data; calculations with real data are expected later this year. By Victor Dykin

IAEA reviews TEPCO’s Fukushima roadmap
29 May, 2013
The IAEA has reviewed the TEPCO short- and medium-term plan to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It said that although a relatively stable cooling of the fuel (and fuel debris) in the reactors and spent fuel pools has been established and is adequately removing decay heat, there are several challenges to achieve a sustainable situation.

Studying silicon carbide for nuclear fuel cladding
19 April, 2013
With its high melting point and low oxidation rate, silicon carbide remains stable even in nuclear accident scenarios. A wide-ranging R&D programme in the USA is now underway to assess the feasibility of an SiC nuclear fuel cladding. By Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Kristine Barrett, Isabella van Rooyen, David Hurley and Marat Khafizov.

Thermal treatment of ILW
06 March, 2013
Thermal treatment, including vitrification, could reduce by half the volume of some intermediate-level wastes destined for a geological repository, whilst maintaining a degree of radioactive shielding. Thermal treatment methods are introduced and recent tests of ILW simulant in the UK are discussed. By Neil C. Hyatt and Mike James

Amine-based chemistry
01 January, 2013
Analysis of carbon steel samples in three amine solutions have found two amines that maintain favourable pH and inhibit corrosion as well, or better, than cyclohexylamine. By Maria Radulescu, Doina Stefanescu and Maria Mihalache

The simulator sell
02 July, 2012
Although they may look the same as they did 40 years ago, nuclear power plant full-scope simulators are continually reengineered to keep them up to date and as faithful to the reference plant as possible. The emerging transition of analogue to digital control systems in nuclear power plant I&C and more demanding post-Fukushima severe accident management training requirements pose interesting technical challenges for simulators. By Will Dalrymple