High Flux Isotope Reactor Low-Enriched Uranium Core Designs and Challenges

摘要

Significant progress has been made recently in thedevelopment of HFIR LEU core designs. Much of thissuccess is due to major enhancements in the HFIR modelingand simulation tools including developing high-fidelityneutronics models, streamlining the neutronic and thermalhydraulicsimulations via scripting, and the development ofRSM-based optimization tools.Because the LEU design space is so large and theintroduction of large amounts of ~(238)U results in increasedself-shielding effects, converting a compact, high-powerdensity core like HFIR to LEU fuel is a challenging task. Afew designs were presented in this paper that meet andexceed HEU-like performance. Following the completion ofthis phase of design studies, ORNL will present severaldesigns and results to the stakeholders and the RC, FF, andFQ conversion pillars to aid in decisions regarding fueldown-selection and next steps.