Abstract

With the increasing interest in sodium fast reactor technology, as seen by applications to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the OKLO Aurora plant, fuel testing for the TerraPower Traveling Wave Reactor, and the impending construction and startup of the versatile test reactor (VTR), a modernized, accelerated approach to fuel qualification is needed. To guide this effort, a Phenomena Identification Ranking Table–styled analysis was performed for a U-Pu-Zr sodium-free annular fuel system. This analysis evaluated a series of fuel design properties and parameters against their contributions to key fuel performance phenomena. The resulting priority parameters were then reviewed against existing modeling and experimental capabilities to support investigation of the highest-priority parameters. A pathway for qualification was then established using high-throughput, high-volume experiments from MiniFuel and FAST in parallel with advanced physics-based model development. This effort outlines how the first stages of qualification can be reduced from the typical 20+-year development cycle to 5 to 7 years by deploying accelerated irradiation testing platforms. As with any accelerated test, these methods are prototypic in some aspects and less so in others; however, by coupling with advanced fuel performance modeling and simulation capabilities, the larger space of irradiation parameters and material response provided offers advantages for the validation of physics-based models supporting the deployment of novel fuel designs. As a test case, this paper utilizes a proposed Mark II fuel system for the upcoming VTR. Thus, an accelerated qualification method can be tested for the development of MARK II driver fuel so that by the time of VTR startup, lead test assemblies for a Mark II fuel can be initiated.

摘要

随着人们对钠快堆技术的兴趣日益浓厚，从美国核管理委员会对 OKLO Aurora 电厂的申请、TerraPower 行波反应堆的燃料测试以及即将建造和启动的多功能测试反应堆 (VTR) 可见，需要一种现代化、加速的燃料鉴定方法。为了指导这项工作，对 U-Pu-Zr 无钠环形燃料系统进行了现象识别排名表式的分析。该分析评估了一系列燃料设计特性和参数对关键燃料性能现象的贡献。然后根据现有的建模和实验功能对得到的优先参数进行审查，以支持对最高优先参数的调查。然后使用 MiniFuel 和 FAST 的高通量、大容量实验与先进的基于物理的模型开发并行建立了资格认证途径。这项工作概述了如何通过部署加速辐照测试平台将认证的第一阶段从典型的 20 多年的开发周期缩短到 5 到 7 年。与任何加速测试一样，这些方法在某些方面是原型，而在其他方面则不然；然而，通过与先进的燃料性能建模和模拟功能相结合，提供的辐照参数和材料响应的更大空间为支持新型燃料设计部署的基于物理的模型的验证提供了优势。作为测试案例，本文为即将推出的 VTR 使用了建议的 Mark II 燃料系统。因此，