Methodology of On-Line Prediction and Fuel Management of the Modular Pebble-Bed High-Temperature Reactors

Abstract

The modular pebble-bed high-temperature reactors (PB-HTRs), featured by the inherent safety and modular design concept, are considered as one of the promising candidates for the nuclear system of next generation. The characteristics of on-line successive fueling, as well as the features of small excess reactivity and lack of reactivity control methods, make the fuel management and operation of PB-HTRs coupled tightly with each other. The on-line fuel management of PB-HTRs needs the capability of on-line prediction for future operation scenarios based on the combination of several tightly coupled key parameters of the reactor core, including the power level of reactor core, the unloading speed and loading ratio of fuel/dummy pebbles, and the control rod positions. The methodology of on-line prediction is proposed, and then verified by the model of the HTR-10, a small test modular PB-HTR with nominal power of 10 MW. For different combinations, the prediction sequences are calculated by using the computer code system of VSOP for both equilibrium state and running-in phase, especially the latter. The prediction results are analyzed by using a series of data processing based on the polynomial interpolation to determine the optimized parameters for fuel management and core operation of next step. The verification of methodology on the HTR-10 model demonstrates the feasibility of the on-line prediction and fuel management of modular PH-HTRs.