Abstract:
Nuclear power is a reliable and large-scale source of GHG-free electricity.
This study asses the viability of ATF fuel of uranium nitrate (UN) and
uranium carbide (UC) as fuel for the VVER-1200 reactor. A comprehensive
literature review has been conducted on the current state of global nuclear
power and fuels. An in-depth overview of the VVER-1200 and Accident
Tolerant fuels is presented and a review of the development of ATFs
identified UN and UC as viable fuels for the VVER reactor. The study
utilizes OpenMC to model the VVER-1200 core and compares the
behaviour of ATF with conventional fuel. Key findings include comparable
k-eff values implying similar neutronic behaviour. UO2 and UC showed
similar fission rates across the core while UN showed higher neutron flux
and fission rate in the outer part of the core. The base Z44B2 showed
increased flux and fission rate with UN as the fuel. ATF behaviour showed
to be comparable to the UO2 and thus is a potential alternative to
conventional fuels. ATFs provide an additional level of safety because of
higher melting points and higher thermal conductivity. This study can be
further improved to investigate the depletion of ATFs so that the behaviours
of the core over large periods of time, fission products and operator safety
can be assessed. Base case k-eff value of 1.24795 are comparable to k-eff
values generated by UN and UC.
