Comparison of neutronic aspects in high‐temperature gas‐cooled reactor using ZrC and SiC Triso particle with 50 and 100 MWt power

• Published in: International journal of energy research Vol. 46; no. 4; pp. 4852 - 4868
• Main Authors: Miftasani, Fitria, Su'ud, Zaki, Irwanto, Dwi, Permana, Sidik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Inc 25-03-2022; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Coated particles; Coatings; Corrosion; Corrosion products; Corrosion resistance; Doppler effect; Doppler sonar; Fission products; Fuels; HTGR; Irradiation; Libraries; Mathematical analysis; neutronic; Nuclear fuels; Performance enhancement; Reactor design; Reactors; Silicon carbide; Substitutes; Temperature; TRISO; Zirconium; Zirconium carbide; ZrC
• ISSN: 0363-907X; 1099-114X
• DOI: 10.1002/er.7479

Summary
The use of zirconium carbide (ZrC) as a substitute for silicon carbide (SiC) has been proposed to improve the performance of coated particles for high‐temperature gas‐cooled reactor (HTGR) fuel. Irradiation test on ZrC has proved that it has excellent characteristics for HTGR fuel compared with SiC, such as fission product retention capabilities and better resistance on fission product corrosion. Neutronic analysis on 30 MWt HTGR using ZrC and SiC has been performed in many previous studies. The research presented in this paper was conducted as a further continuation of the aforementioned studies. The present study was directed to analyze tristructural isotropic (TRISO)‐coated particles with ZrC as a substitute for the SiC layer on an HTGR with different power rates. Here, we used high‐temperature test reactor design, an experimental scale prismatic HTGR built and operated in Japan. The power was varied at the range of 50‐100 MWt, while the reactor geometry was modified by applying an additional fuel layer in the axial and radial directions. Neutronic analysis of the reactor was investigated by calculating the k‐eff, k‐inf, power peaking factor, burn‐up level, neutron spectrum, and Doppler effect using ZrC and SiC layers for TRISO‐coated fuel particles. The result shows the coated fuel particle using the ZrC layer has the same performance as SiC with an insignificant difference in the values on neutronic aspects calculation. Neutronic calculations are performed using the SRAC code with the Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library 4.0 nuclear data library.
This study shows that the usage of ZrC for SiC replacement in HTGR fuel gives almost comparable neutronic performance in 50 and 100 MWt small long‐life prismatic HTGR. With its better characteristics in irradiation and FP retention capability, the ZrC is an excellent choice for future modular HTGR.