Updated Fuel Cycle Cost Model of the Fluoride-salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor (FHR) Based on Neutronic Calculations Using MC Dancoff Factors

摘要

The Liquid Salt Cooled Reactor (LSCR), or Fluoride-salt High-temperature Reactor (FHR), is a type of Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR), a generation Ⅳ reactor, currently under development by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy's Advanced Reactor Concept Program. The reactor design of 3400 MWt power employs graphite 'planks' filled with tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles containing enriched uranium oxycarbide as fuel. Expected higher fabrication costs of this fuel type, combined with the low heavy metal loading that challenges cycle length, make an accurate evaluation of fuel cycle cost and characteristics very important. Our previous preliminary fuel cycle cost assessment employed multigroup (MG) burnup calculations in SCALE 6.1. However, the double heterogeneity of the fuel elements was not completely accounted for. The use of Monte Carlo based (MC) Dancoff factors allows correcting for these inaccuracies. Using the most recent fuel design specifications, appropriate MC Dancoff factors were calculated and applied. Use of these factors in MG depletion analysis yields corrected burnup data for use in a preliminary FCC model, which, in turn, informs the fuel design to minimize the cost of electricity. The results acquired and put forth by this research show the impact of the correction factors and identify an optimum fuel configuration under given assumptions.