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Burnup study of 18 months and 16/20 months cycle AP1000 cores using CASMO4E and SIMULATE-3 codes
NAWAZ Amjad1, YOSHIKAWA Hidekazu1, and YANG Ming1
1. College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001 China
(anmalik.55@gmail.com, yosikawa@kib.biglobe.ne.jp, myang.heu@gmail.com)
Abstract: AP1000 reactor is an advanced pressurized water reactor equipped with passive safety features. AP1000 reactor core is designed for 18 month cycle length and can also be used for 16/20 month alternate cycle lengths to meet energy requirements during high demand periods. The purpose of this study is to analyze the feasibility of AP1000 core for both 18 and 16/20 alternate cycle lengths by using CASMO4E and SIMULATE-3 code package. For this purpose, burnup analysis of both the schemes is carried out from initial core loading through optimized transition cores to equilibrium core. The study is performed by modeling three dimensional full core in SIMULATE-3 with each fuel assembly divided into 40 axial and 4 radial quadrant nodes. Once and twice burned fuel reloading from one cycle to the next and removal of burnable poison rods from the core after first cycle options are used in these codes. The results of this study indicate that both the cycle schemes can be utilized by varying the core loading pattern. Moreover, reactivity coefficients, total power peaking factors and enthalpy rise factors are calculated which indicate that the AP1000 core provide adequate safety margins in both the cycle schemes.
Keyword: AP1000; burnup analysis; CASMO4E; SIMULATE-3 |
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