THE PRELIMINARY PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSMUTATION FUEL FOR HYPER
A U-TRU-(40-60)Zr metallic fuel is being considered as the transmutation fuel for HYPER in Korea. U-TRU-15Zr is also considered as the reference fuel for a critical system. The MACSIS-H for an metallic fuel is being developed as a steady-state performance computer code. The fuel temperature calculation schemes were developed and implemented into the MACSIS-H code to analyze the fuel rod performance. A constituent migration subroutine has been made and installed into the MACSIS-H code to simulate the constituent redistribution. The He production rates calculated by other code were inserted into the swelling/FGR routine of the code. The burnup limits and CDF (cumulative damage fraction) were analyzed by the MACSIS-H code. There are lots of uncertainties in the modelling, so some experimental tests are needed for clarifying the uncertainties of the fuel modeling.
Metal fuel test program in the FFTF
Abstract Irradiation testing of metal fuel assemblies in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) has demonstrated the viability of this robust fuel design for liquid metal reactor applications. This fuel design provides high burnup capability with reduced fabrication costs relative to standard mixed-oxide FFTF driver fuel assemblies. Development of this fuel design required the establishment of innovative sodium bonding technology as well as special techniques for sodium bond quality verification. Eight metal fuel test assemblies have been irradiated under demanding conditions to burnups as high as 143 MWd/kgM with no indication of pin breach. The unique FFTF instrumentation system has permitted the in situ observation of axial fuel growth in metal fuel assemblies.
Techno-economic analysis of chemical looping combustion with humid air turbine power cycle
Abstract Power generation from fossil fuel-fired power plant is the largest single source of CO2 emission. CO2 emission contributes to climate change. On the other hand, renewable energy is hindered by complex constraints in dealing with large scale application and high price. Power generation from fossil fuels with CO2 capture is therefore necessary to meet the increasing energy demand, and reduce the emission of CO2. This paper presents a process simulation and economic analysis of the chemical looping combustion (CLC) integrated with humid air turbine (HAT) cycle for natural gas-fired power plant with CO2 capture. The study shows that the CLC–HAT including CO2 capture has a thermal efficiency of 57% at oxidizing temperature of 1200 °C and reducer inlet temperature of 530 °C. The economic evaluation shows that the 50 MWth plant with a projected lifetime of 30 years will have a payback period of 7 years and 6 years for conventional HAT and CLC–HAT cycles respectively. The analysis indicates that CLC–HAT process has a high potential to be commercialised.