General Features of Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors with Improved Fuel Utilization

Abstract

The main feature of an advanced pressurized water reactor (APWR) with improved fuel utilization is a plutonium-enriched tight lattice core integrated in an unchanged primary system of a common pressurized water reactor (PWR) power station. Neutron physical investigations demonstrate that conversion ratios in excess of 0.9 and final burnups of ∼45 000 MWd/tHM are obtained with a reload enrichment of 7.5% fissile plutonium. The moderator-void coefficient is calculated to be negative. The high-pressure drop of an APWR core is compensated for by a slightly reduced coolant flow rate. Despite the fact that calculated safety parameters such as void coefficient, critical heat flux margin, and emergency core cooling behavior have to be proven by experiments, the homogeneous concept of a high-converting PWR appears to be feasible.