Physics and Control Assessment of AN 850 Mw(e) - Leu-Candu Reactor.

The physics and control assessment of an 850 MW(e) Low Enriched Uranium CANDU Pressurized Heavy Water (LEU -CANDU-PHW) reactor constitute the major objective of this thesis. The use of Low Enriched Uranium fuel in the present CANDU nuclear power generating stations is recognized as economically beneficial due to reduced fuelling costs. The LEU fuel cycle is also recognized as a stepping stone to transit from the present CANDU-PHW once-through natural Uranium cycle to advanced cycles such as those based on Plutonium recycle, once-through Th + U-235 cycle, Thorium with Uranium recycle and net U-235 feed, Thorium with Uranium recycle and Plutonium feed. However, although the use of Low Enriched Uranium in the present CANDU-PHW reactor has economic advantages, and it would act as a technical bridge between the present cycle and advanced cycles, technical problems in different areas of reactor physics and fuel management were anticipated. The present thesis research work adresses the areas of reactor physics, fuel management, and control (in particular, the spatial control of large CANDU-PHW reactors). The main conclusions that have been drawn following these studies are as follows: (1) The Low Enriched Uranium Cycle is feasible in a CANDU-PHW reactor of present design and provided that: (a) The enrichment is kept relatively low (that is, about 1% instead of 0.711%); (b) the number of bundles to be replaced at every refuelling operation is about one-half that of the natural Uranium fuel case; (c) The channels are refuelled in the same direction as the coolant. (2) The response of an LEU-CANDU-PHW reactor to reactivity perturbation such as single- and two-channel refuelling operation, shim transient, shutdown-start-up transient with enrichment levels of 0.9% and 1.2% is essentially very similar {provided that certain conditions in (1) are respected} to that of the natural uranium reactor core case without any reactor reoptimization. The general behaviour of the reactor regulating systems to refuelling and shim reactivity perturbation studies with LEU core cases offered results that were in almost perfect agreement with those obtained when the natural reactor core was considered. In the case of shutdown-start-up reactivity perturbation, however, a slight shortening in the Decision and Action (DA) time is encountered. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI.