COMPARISON OF THERMAL HYDRAULIC PERFORMANCES OF ROD-TYPE FUEL TO PLATE-TYPE FUEL FOR SMALL MODULAR REACTOR APPLICATION

Abstract

Nowadays, development of a small modular reactor (SMR) gains interest as a part of effort to expand the utilization of nuclear energy in wider spectrum. However, the SMR fuel geometry can be re-considered since its design constraints are different from a large nuclear power plant. Today, most of large commercial power plants use rod-type fuels. This is primarily because the rod type fuel is convenient for manufacturing while meeting the fuel length requirement. In this paper, authors are exploring potential benefits of using a plate-type fuel for water cooled SMRs instead of the current rod-type fuels. The comparison will be especially focused on the thermal hydraulic performances of each fuel type under the same reactor operating conditions. While keeping the reactor physics characteristics nearly the same, the comparison of thermal hydraulic performance of each fuel type will unveil the pros and cons of each type fuel for SMR.