Hitachi, Ltd.

Kunitoshi Kurihara

Motoo Aoyama

Junichi Yamashita

Sadao Uchikawa

Renzo Takeda

Akinobu Nakajima

Ryoji Masumi

Masaaki Yamamoto

Junjiro Nakajima

Yoko Ishibashi

Michiro Yokomi

Osamu Yokomizo

Koji Nishida

Yasunori Bessho

Yasuhiro Masuhara

Katsuyuki Kawashima

Masayoshi Ishida

Taro Ueki

Jun Takamatsu

Kazuo Azekura

Takanori Shimoshige

Yooko Ishibashi

A fuel assembly comprises fuel rods arrayed in a square lattice pattern of 10 rows and 10 columns, and three large-diameter water rods arranged along a diagonal line of the fuel assembly in such a region as able to accommodate 10 fuel rods. Partial length fuel rods are arranged in an outermost layer of the fuel rod array at fuel rod setting positions other than corners of the outermost layer. Ordinary fuel rods are arranged in a layer inside the outermost layer and adjacent to the outermost layer at positions adjacent to the partial length fuel rods in the outermost layer. The struction of the fuel assembly enables a reduction in the void coefficient and an improvement in the reactivity control capability. Also, the void coefficient can be reduced without lowering reactivity, and fuel economy is improved.

Fuel assembly and reactor core

A second fuel rod positioned at each corner of a channel box and second fuel rods adjacent to the former are formed to have a smaller outer diameter than that of ordinary first fuel rods, so that a pitch between the second fuel rods is narrower than a pitch between the first fuel rods. Making the outer diameter of the second fuel rods smaller than that of the first fuel rods reduces the power per unit length of the second fuel rods. The narrower pitch between the second fuel rods than the pitch between the first fuel rods provides two effects. First, a unit lattice cell becomes so small as to avoid an increase in the H/U ratio. Secondly, a new moderator region is formed between the second fuel rods and the first fuel rods adjacent thereto, the moderator region acting to intensify thermal neutron flux around those first fuel rods. These two effects enable a further reduction in the power per unit length of the second fuel rods. As a result, a fuel assembly intended for higher burn-up can be realized by increasing enrichment, while suppressing an increase in the local power peaking factor at corners of the fuel assembly.

A fuel assembly comprising a plurality of fuel rods, where fuel rods containing a burnable poison element having a smaller neutron absorption cross-section such as boron are provided in a region of soft neutron energy spectrum and a large thermal neutron flux and fuel rods containing a burnable poison element having a larger neutron absorption cross-section such as gadolinium and fuel rods containing no such burnable poison element are provided in other region of average neutron energy spectrum, has a flat fuel rod power distribution throughout the fuel lifetime even against substantially uniform uranium enrichment distribution with reduced parasitic neutron absorption by gadolia, that is, with higher burnup and reduced fuel cycle cost.

Fuel assembly

In a fuel loading method for a reactor core made up by high burn-up fuel, fuel assemblies loaded in a circumferential zone of the core are shuffled between two layers of the circumferential zone until residing in the core for two cycles and, after residing for two cycles, are moved to the fourth layer of the circumferential zone from an outermost layer of the core, thereby reducing the difference in exposure due to a different radial power level in the vicinity of the core boundary. Those fuel assemblies are moved to control cells in a central zone of the core after residing in the circumferential zone for three cycles, and also such fuel assemblies as having resided in the central zone for three cycles are moved to the core outermost layer, thereby reducing the difference in exposure between the fuel assemblies having resided in the central zone and the fuel assemblies having resided in the circumferential zone due to different power levels in the central and circumferential zones. As a result, the difference in exposure between used fuel assemblies is reduced.

Fuel loading method and reactor core

The present invention provides a structural component for constituting a reactor core comprising one and the other metallic members arranged adjacent to each other in a reactor, and reduction means for reducing a difference in the swelling between the metallic members due to neutron irradiation thereto; a core of the reactor comprising a plurality of such constructural element; and a method for operating a reactor having metallic tubular members arranged in a core of the reactor and each enclosing a plurality of metallic cladding tubes in each of which substance heated by neutron irradiation thereto and cooled by passing coolant through the reactor core is filled, wherein the reactor is operated under a condition that an average used temperature of the cladding tubes is higher than an irradiation temperature that the swelling rate of the cladding material due to neutron irradiation thereto becomes maximum and an average used temperature of the tubular members is lower than an irradiation temperature that the swelling rate of the tubular material due to neutron irradiation thereto becomes maximum. According to the structural component and the reactor core, since the difference in the swelling between the metallic members due to neutron irradiation thereto can be decreased, any mechanical interactions can be prevented or reduced. According to the present method, since the difference in the swelling between the metallic members due to neutron irradiation thereto can be decreased due to the above operation temperature condition, any mechanical interactions can be prevented or reduced.

Reactor

In a fast breeder reactor provided with a core comprising a core region packed with a fissile material and a blanket region which surrounds the outside of said core region and most of which is formed of a fertile material, and a plurality of control rods which are put in and out of the above core region by a control rod driving device, the fast breeder reactor of the present invention is characterized in that each of said control rods is constructed of a neutron absorber region packed with a neutron absorber and a gas region disposed in the end portion on the side further separated from said control rod driving device than said neutron absorber region. With this invention, the spectral shift effect can be produced by utilizing said gas region, thereby increasing the core reactvity of the fast breeder reactor.

Fast breeder reactor

In a nuclear reactor, gaps are defined between fuel assemblies so that moderators can be inserted. Hence, the nuclear characteristics vary between the central portion and periphery of the fuel assembly so that the local output peaking becomes greater on the periphery of the fuel assembly. The present invention flattens the local output peaking by providing that the quantity of a nuclear fuel material per fuel rod loaded in the fuel rods on the periphery of the fuel assembly is smaller than the quantity of the fuel material per fuel rod loaded in the fuel rods at the central portion of the fuel assembly. Any one of the following three constructions can be used:

A boiling water type nuclear reactor adapted to be operated at a void quality (weight ratio of vapor in the coolant) of coolant at the core outlet of 17% or higher. By adopting this level of void quality, a void quality exceeding 8.5% is available at least in the upper half region of the core which in turn provides a void fraction of 66% or higher. Consequently, it is possible to reduce the enrichment of the fuel, so as to allow a more efficient use of the fuel. At the same time, due to the reduced power generating rate, the range over which the flow rate of coolant is controlled is widened, so that it becomes possible to change the reactivity solely by controlling the flow rate of the coolant. It is therefore possible to operate the reactor over whole operation cycle with its control rods fully withdrawn.

Boiling water type nuclear reactor

A construction of boiling water reactor core having a plurality of fuel assemblies. Some of fuel assemblies have an infinite multiplication factor which is larger at their upper regions than at their lower portions, so that the effective multiplication factor of the reactor core is larger at the upper portion than at the lower portion of the reactor core under an equal condition. Consequently, a relatively flat axial power distribution is established even under an uneven axial void distribution.

Construction of nuclear reactor core

A fuel assembly suitable for use in boiling water reactor. The fuel assembly has a specific pattern of distribution of enrichment, so that the upper region of the assembly has a larger infinite multiplication factor than that of the lower region. In an example, the distribution of enrichment is such that the upper region has a mean enrichment larger than that of the lower region, while, in another example, the mean enrichment is maintained constant over the length of the assembly but the difference of enrichments between the central and peripheral portions of a plane normal to the axis of the assembly is made smaller at the upper region than at the lower region.

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Katsuta, Japan

Kunitoshi Kurihara