Preliminary Neutronics Analysis for a Compact Heat-Pipe Cooled Fast Reactor Core

摘要

A high-power and long-life space nuclear reactor becomes a very important choice for space energy system, due to it can be operated automatically and not be affected by environment. In this summary, a compact heat-pipe cooled fast reactor core is proposed, which combines the nuclear fuel rods and the central cooling heat-pipes with nested structure. The neutronics parameters of the reactor core were calculated by Monte Carlo code RMC including critical reactivity, power distribution and burnup of the reactor core. Because of the compact layout, the critical mass and the core volume of the reactor are reduced, and the structural material also decrease. As a result, the total mass of the core is reduced.