Enriched Uranium Fuel Management in CANDU Reactors Using the Checkerboard Scheme
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Abstract
A fuel management simulation has been carried out to demonstrate the Checkerboard Fuel Management Scheme (CFMS) to burn Slightly Enriched Uranium (SEU) fuel in existing CANDU reactors. Simulation of a 600 MWe CANDU reactor was started from equilibrium burnup conditions with fuel enriched 1.5 wt% U-235 in U and performed for 545 full power days (FPD). At the end of each burnup step, bulk and spatial control actions were credited. No attempt has been made to maximize, by adjustment of the CFMS, the reactivities of the control and shutdown devices. We demonstrate that the CFMS can be utilized in existing CANDU reactors to enable the use of SEU fuel with an enrichment of 1.5 wt% U-235. The channel and bundle powers were shown to be within their limits (7.3 MW and 935 kW respectively).
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