Analysis of the Impact of Coolant Density Variations in the High Efficiency Channel of a Pressure Tube Super Critical Water Reactor

Abstract

The Pressure Tube (PT) Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR) is based on a light water coolant operating at pressures above the thermodynamic critical pressure; a separate low temperature and low pressure moderator. The coolant density changes by an order of magnitude depending on its local enthalpy in the porous ceramic insulator tube. This causes significant changes in the neutron transport characteristics, axially and radially, in the fuel channel. This work performs lattice physics calculations for a 78-element Pu-Th fuel at zero burnup and examines the effect of assumptions related to coolant density in the radial direction of a HEC, using the neutron transport code WIMS-AECL.