Impact of the 37M Fuel Design on Reactor Physics Characteristics

Abstract

For CANDU® nuclear reactors, aging of the Heat Transport System (HTS) leads to, among other effects, a reduction on the Critical Heat Flux (CHF) and dryout margin. In an effort to mitigate the impact of aging of the HTS on safety margins, Bruce Power is introducing a design change to the standard 37-element fuel bundle known as the modified 37-element fuel bundle, or 37M for short. As part of the overall design change process it was required to assess its impact on key reactor physics parameters. Quantification of this impact on lattice cell properties, core reactivity properties, etc., was reached through a series of calculations using state-of-the-art lattice and core models, and comparisons against results for the standard fuel bundle.