New perspectives for nuclear reactor design

作者：Baglietto Emilio^*

来源：ATW - International Journal for Nuclear Power, 2012, 57(11): 652-+.

The story of nuclear reactors design is a progression from a reliance on empirically derived guidelines to the more versatile numerical analyses of computational and next-generation tools. The adoption of the new analysis and simulation techniques is pushing the operational limits of reactors and fuel, with great impact on the economics of the plants, while improving the safety standards.
The growth of the nuclear power is fundamentally related to the improvements in the technology, which have made the plants more economical and reliable, and have greatly enhanced the safety standards. Modern plants Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) results show that the core damage frequency (CDF) is at least 2 orders of magnitude lower than the operating fleet.
The extensive research in the last decades has identified refined and created analysis and design tools that have been crucial to the growth and advancement of the nuclear power industry. One of the most recent and important developments has been the application and adaptation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Used alone or in combination with neutronics and system analysis tools, the analysis software has enabled nuclear operators and vendors to greatly enhance the capacity and availability of current reactors.
The same analysis technology is also helping in the development of the next generation of nuclear reactors. The designs proposed for Generation IV reactors represent a large technology step for which existing experimental data and operating experience is limited. CFD and other advanced technologies are playing a greater role. One of the side effects will be the transition to reliance on smaller, less expensive experiments that confirm the accuracy of the advanced tools rather than the large, expensive prototypic experiments of the past that can often be applied to only one plant design.

• 出版日期2012-11