REACTOR WITH A FAST-RESONANCE NEUTRON SPECTRUM, COOLED BY SUPERCRITICAL-PRESSURE WATER WITH A BIDIRECTIONAL COOLANT FLOW SCHEME

摘要

A scheme for circulating coolant and cooling the core that has advantages over the designs of similar nuclear power systems is proposed for light-water reactors with supercritical coolant parameters and a fast-resonance neutron spectrum. A negative void coefficient of reactivity is obtained for the entire run of a fuel assembly without building a blanket. A more uniform distribution of the energy release over the core volume is achieved without using complicated fuel-enrichment schemes. The nonuniformity of the coolant temperature distribution at the core exit is decreased. The fuel assemblies operate with a much lower temperature drop over the core height. The core has a small reactivity excess on burnup and a BR of about 1, for which the most difficult operating regimes (flooding with cold water) can be handled with standard means (placement of absorbing organs of the safety and control system in ～2/3 of the fuel assemblies).