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5th International Symposium on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems, INES-5, 31 October – 2

November, 2016, Ookayama Campus, Tokyo Institute of Technology, JAPAN
5th International Symposium on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems, INES-5, 31 October – 2
Design Study
November, of International
The 15th
2016,Small
OokayamaModified
Symposium
Campus, CANDLE
on District
Tokyo based
InstituteHeating
of Long
and Life Gas
Cooling
Technology, JAPAN
Cooled Fast Reactors
Assessing
Design Study of theSmall
feasibility
Modified of using the heat
CANDLE demand-outdoor
based Long Life Gas
temperature1*
function
Zaki Su’ud , Fitria for
Miftasani 1
a long-term
, Ilham
Cooled
1
, Sarah.
Fast1
Adistrict
1
., Menik heat
Reactors
1
Arianidemand
2
forecast
, H. Sekimoto 3
, A.
Waris , Sidik P
a,b,c a a b c c
I.Su’ud
1 Andrić
ZakiNuclear 1* *, A.
, Fitria
and Biophysics Pina
Miftasani
Research , P.1,Ferrão
Division, Ilham
Faculty
1, J. Fournier
, Sarah.and
of Mathematics ., .,Menik
A1Natural B. Lacarrière
Ariani
Sciences,
2 , O. Le Corre3
Bandung,Institute
H. Sekimoto
of Technology , A.
Dept. of Physics, Sriwijaya1University, Palembang,
Waris- Instituto
, Sidik P1 Técnico,Indonesia
2
a
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research Superior Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b Tokyo Inst. of Technology (Emeritus Profesor), Japan
3
Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
1
Nuclear
c and Biophysics
Département Research
Systèmes Division,
Énergétiques Faculty of Mathematics
et Environnement and Natural
- IMT Atlantique, Sciences,
4 rue Alfred Bandung Institute
Kastler, 44300 of Technology
Nantes, France
2
Dept. of Physics, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, Indonesia
3
Tokyo Inst. of Technology (Emeritus Profesor), Japan
Abstract
Abstract
Small size modified CANDLE burn-up based Long Life Gas Cooled Fast Reactors have been investigated. In this study gas cooled
fast reactor
Abstract
District systemnetworks
heating are combined with modified
are commonly CANDLE
addressed burn-up
in the scheme
literature to create
as one of thelongmostlifeeffective
fast reactors with natural
solutions circulation
for decreasing the
asgreenhouse
fuel cycle input. Such system
gas emissions from can
the utilize
building natural
sector.uranium
These resources
systems requireefficiently
highwithout
investmentsthe necessity
which are of returned
fuel enrichment
throughplant or
the heat
fuel
Small reprocessing
sales. size
Duemodified plant.
to the The investigated
CANDLE
changed climate powerLong
burn-upconditions
based level is in
Life
and the Cooled
Gas
buildingrange ofFast
200-400
renovation MWt.
Reactors have
policies, For small
been
heat reactors,
investigated.
demand modified
in the Infuture CANDLE
this study
could burn-
gasdecrease,
cooled
up
fast design
reactor has difficulty
system are in term
combined
prolonging the investment return period.of criticality
with modified aspect.
CANDLETherefore some
burn-up important
scheme to steps
create are
long adopted
life fast to overcome
reactors with this problem.
natural First,
circulation
combined
asThe
fuelmain axial-radial
cycle input. shuffling
Such system is adopted.
can utilize Then,
naturalhigh
uraniumfuel volume
resources fraction of about
efficiently 65%
without is
the adopted.
necessity
scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand The
of optimization
fuel enrichment processes
plant or
is then
fuel
forecast.conducted
reprocessing whichThe
plant.
The district ofincludes
Alvalade,adjustment
investigated powerof
located fuel
inlevel isregion
Lisbon themovement
in (Portugal),
range ofwas scheme,
200-400
usedMWt.volume
as casefraction
a For small adjustment,
reactors,
study. modified
The district core dimension,
is CANDLE
consisted etc.
burn-
of 665
Due
up to thehas
design
buildings limitation
vary of
in thermal
thatdifficulty in term
both hydraulic
of criticality
construction aspects, the
aspect.
period and maximum
Therefore
typology. average
someThree power steps
important
weather density areofadopted
scenarios the proposed
(low, to design
overcome
medium, high)is selected
this problem.
and of district
three about
First,
75 W/cc.
combined All proposed
axial-radial reactor
shuffling design
is are
adopted. operated
Then, for
high 10 years
fuel volumewithout refueling
fraction of or
about fuel
65% shuffling
is
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were adopted.with just
The need natural
optimization uranium
processes
ascompared
is fuel cycle
then input
conducted
with in every
which
results beginning
includes
from of 10
heatyears
adjustment
a dynamic of cycle.
of fuel
demand region
model,With such conditions
movement
previously scheme,
developedsmallandsized
volume cores adjustment,
fraction
validated from
by the200MWt
authors. coreto dimension,
400 MWt were etc.
investigated
Due to the and optimized.
limitation of thermalThe average
hydraulic discharge
aspects, burn-up
the maximumis about 20%
average HM.
power As an
density example,
of the
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications the dimension
proposed design of
is 200 MWt
selected ofcase
aboutis
90
75 cm
W/cc.in radius
All and
proposed180 cm
reactorheight for
design the
are active
operated core
for part.
10 The
years reflector
without is 70 cm
refueling with.
or fuelThe burn-up
shuffling
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation level
with is
just about
need 20%
natural HM.
uranium
asscenarios,
fuel cyclethe input in every
error value beginning
increased of
up10 to years
59.5% of (depending
cycle. With on such theconditions
weather andsmall sized cores
renovation from 200MWt
scenarios combinationto 400 considered).
MWt were
© 2017 The
Keywords:
investigated Authors.
Modified
and Published
CANDLE;
optimized. The by
Burn-upElsevier
history;
average Ltd.
Fuel cycle
discharge input; is
burn-up Long
aboutlife 20%
operation;
HM. Fuel
As shuffling
an example, the dimension of 200 MWt case is
The value of
Peer-review slope
under coefficient of
responsibility increased on average
the organizing committeewithinofthethe range of 3.8% upSymposium
5th International to 8% per on decade, that corresponds
Innovative Nuclear Energy to the
90 cm
decrease
Systems. in radius
in theand 180
number cmof height
heatingfor the
hours active
of core
22-139h part. The
during reflector
the heatingis 70 cm
season with. The
(depending burn-up
on thelevel is about
combination 20%
of HM.
weather and
renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
1. Introduction
Keywords:
coupled
Modified CANDLE; Burn-up history; Fuel cycle input; Long life operation; Fuel shuffling
scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.
Energy sustainability is an important issue at the present time. This issue is also relevant for nuclear energy. As we
1.
©Introduction
know,
2017using current Published
The Authors. LWR technology
by Elseviernatural
Ltd. Uranium resources only can be used for about 300 years. However,
using fast reactor
Peer-review technology and
under responsibility related
of the fuelCommittee
Scientific cycle systemof Thethe15th
utilization of Uranium
International SymposiumcanonbeDistrict
extended up and
Heating to about
Energy
10000 sustainability
years.
Cooling. The usage of is thorium
an importantwhichissue at the present
abundance is threetime.
timesThis issuethan
higher is also
thatrelevant for nuclear
of Uranium energy.
resources As we
will extend
know, using current LWR technology natural Uranium resources only can be used for about 300 years. However,
using fast Heat
Keywords: reactor technology
demand; and related
Forecast; Climate change fuel cycle system the utilization of Uranium can be extended up to about
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
10000 years. The usage of thorium which abundance is three times higher than that of Uranium resources will extend
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the 5th International Symposium on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems.

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1876-6102 under
Peer-review © 2017 The Authors.ofPublished
responsibility by Elsevier
the organizing Ltd. of the 5th International Symposium on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems.
committee
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the 5th International Symposium on Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.09.439
 Zaki Su’ud et al. / Energy Procedia 131 (2017) 6–14 7
2 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

further the period of fission nuclear energy utilization. However to be able to use Uranium and thorium resources
effectively fuel enrichment plant and fuel reprocessing plant is necessary and unfortunately these technologies are very
sensitive to be developed in the developing countries. In this study, conceptual design of long life helium gas cooled
small fast reactors which can be continuously operated by only supplying natural uranium without fuel enrichment
plant or fuel reprocessing plant is performed. Therefore using this type of nuclear power plants optimum nuclear
energy utilization including in developing countries can be easily conducted without the problem of nuclear
proliferation.

Figure 1.a Ilustration of CANDLE burn-up strategy

Out

Region 1 Region 1 (Fresh)

Region N Region N

Region N-1 Region N-1

Region . Region .

Region . Region .

Region Region .

Region 5 Region 5

Region 4 Region 4

Region 3 Region 3

Region 2 Region 2

Figure 1.b Ilustration of Axial shuffling Modified CANDLE burn-up scheme

8 Zaki Su’ud et al. / Energy Procedia 131 (2017) 6–14
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3

Breed and Burn reactor concept[1] which are implemented in the form of travelling wave reactor, CANDLE
reactor[2-3] and Modified CANDLE reactor[4-13] are important examples of nuclear power reactors which can use
natural uranium as fuel cycle input. This study discuss the design of Modified CANDLE reactors with axial-radial
combined shuffling and utilizing helium gas as coolant. Travelling wave reactor has widely developed in United States
while CANDLE reactor has been intensively investigated in Japan. Modified CANDLE reactor originally developed
in 2007 with some evolution of its design. Original Modified CANDLE is developed using shuffling scheme in axial
direction with discreet regions. In the current study we utilize axial-radial combined shuffling mode in the Modified
CANDLE reactors in order to get better criticality for realizing small Modified CANDLE reactors[4-7].

Z
Reg 1 Reg 2
Reg 10 Reg 3
Reg 9 Reg 4
Reg 8 Reg 5
Axial
Reg 7 Reg 6 direction
Reg 7 Reg 6
Reg 8 Reg 5
Reg 9 Reg 4
Reg 10 Reg 3
Reg 1 Reg 2
R (radial direction)
Figure 1.c Ilustration of Axial-radial combined shuffling Modified CANDLE burn-up scheme

In the radial-axial combined shuffling mode, the reactor core is divided into 2 parts radially with equal volume as
shown in figure 1.c. The fuel materials are shifted every 10 years of burn-up from region 1 to region 2, region 2 to
region 3, and so on till region 9 which materials is shifted to region 10. It is shown that the shufflings include the
movement in radial and axial direction. The first region is then filled with fresh natural uranum fuel while material in
region 10 from the previous period of burn-up is taken out.

2. Calculation Methods[4-7]

Calculations for multi-group diffusion equations and burn-up analysis are conducted using SRAC, SLAROM, and
FI-ITB CH1 codes. SRAC and SLAROM are used to calculate group constants while FI-ITB CH1 codes is used for
multi-group diffusion calculations and burn-up analysis. Calculation methods use iterative process. First initial power
density distributions are assumed and then multi-group diffusion and burn-up calculations are conducted. After 10
years of burn-up process the fuel in the first region is moved to the second region, the fuel in the second region was
moved to the third region, the fuel in the third region is moved to the forth region, and so on. The fuel in the 10th
region is then taken out. The first region is filled with the fresh fuel of natural uranium. The process is repeated till
equilibrium condition achieved. The 62 group constants are used during calculations and 102 FP nuclides are
considered in the burn-up calculations.
 Zaki Su’ud et al. / Energy Procedia 131 (2017) 6–14 9
4 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

3. Calculation Results and Discussions

The reactor core main parameters used in this study are shown in the Table 1. In this study three reactor power
levels are investigated: 200MWt, 300MWt, and 400MWt. Figure 2-10 shows the results for 200 MWt case. Figure
2 shows effective multiplication change during 10 years of burn-up.

Table 1 Reactor core main parameters

Parameter Value/description
Power (MWth) 200-400
Number of equal volume 10
region in the core
Sub cycle length (years) 10
Fuel type Natural Uranium, nitride
Fuel volume fraction 65%
Cladding volume fraction 10%
Coolant volume fraction 30%
Fuel diameter 1.2 cm
Coolant type Helium gas
Axial width of each region 18/20/23 cm
Active core radial width 90/105/120cm
Reflector radial width 70 cm

Figure 2 Effective multiplication constant for 200 MWt case

 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5
10 Zaki Su’ud et al. / Energy Procedia 131 (2017) 6–14

It is shown that the effective multiplication factor (K-eff) monotonously increases with large margin of criticality.
Figure 3 shows infinite multiplication constant change during burn-up history for the case of 200MWt power level.
K-inf pattern increases from about 0.3 to about 1.2 and then decreases due to the lack of U-238 at the end of burn-up
history. K-inf value started at about 0.3 due to natural Uranium content in the fresh fuels. Then it experiences sharp
increase of k-inf pattern in the first 10 years of operations due to the location of the first region near the 10th region,
so it means the fresh uranium fuel receive strong enough neutron beam from region 10 to convert its U-238 into Pu-
239. After 10 years of burn-up history the fuel is shifted into the region which is separated significantly from the most
active regions. Therefore k-inf change becomes slower. In the next fuel history the k-inf slowly increases until it enter
about 60 years of operation where the fuel entering most active burning region. The k-inf reach its peak at 80 years
and after that decreases due to significant reduction of U-238 atom amount at the end of burn-up history.

Figure 3 Infinite multiplication constant change during fuel history in the reactor core for 200 MWt case

Figure 4 Conversion ratio change during fuel history in the reactor core for 200 MWt case
 Zaki Su’ud et al. / Energy Procedia 131 (2017) 6–14 11
6 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Figure 4 shows conversion ratio change during burn-up history for the case of 200 MWt power level. Conversion
ratio decreases from about 16 to about 1 during burn-up process. Conversion ratio at the beginning of life is very high
about 16 when the fuel is natural Uranium so that the ratio of fertile to fissile atomic density ratio is very high. As
burn-up proceeds the accumulation of plutonium make the fertile to fissile atomic density ratio decreases and causing
lower conversion ratio value. Conversion ratio value decerases rapidly when the fuel is in the first region, then
decreases with lower changing rate till about 80 years of burn-up history, and then much slower changing rate till the
end of fuel history. The accumulation of plutonium-239 during the first 10 years of operations is very high so that
fertile to fissile atomic density ratio decreases rapidly causing fast decrease of conversion ratio, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 5 Burn-up level change during fuel history in the reactor core for 200 MWt case

Figure 6 U-238 atomic density change during fuel history in the reactor core for 200 MWt case
 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 7
12 Zaki Su’ud et al. / Energy Procedia 131 (2017) 6–14

Figure 5 shows burn-up level change during burn-up history for the case of 200 MWt power level. Burn-up level
increases slowly during breeding period and increases rapidly during burning period at the most active regions. At the
first 10 years of fuel history the fuel is located near the 10th region which is part of the burning zone so that the
increase of burn-up level is faster compare to its next 40-50 years of fuel history.

Figure 7 Pu-239 atomic density change during fuel history in the reactor core for 200 MWt case

Figure 8 Peak power density change during operation

 Zaki Su’ud et al. / Energy Procedia 131 (2017) 6–14 13
8 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Figure 6 shows the change of U-238 atomic density during burn-up history. It is shown that the U-238 atomic density
slowly decreases during breeding period (up to 50 years of burn-up history) but after that fastly decreases due to high
power density level during its presence in the burning region at the second half of burn-up history. The accumulation
of plutonium-239 during the first 10 years of operations is relatively
high so that fertile to fissile atomic density ratio decreases rapidly causing fast decrease of conversion ratio, as shown
in Figure 7.
Figure 8 shows the peak power density change during 10 years of operation time of the 200 MWt case. It is shown
that the peak power density initially around 162 W/cc but later decreases and becoming about 155 W/cc at the end of
life. The peak power density change is influenced by the change fissile material composition in each region.
Simulation results for the case of 300MWt and 400 MWt are basically have the same general pattern. Table 2
shows comparison of calculation results among 200MWt, 300 MWt, and 400 MWt cases. There are some different
results such as peak power density which tend to be higher for larger power level along with larger core dimensions.
On the other hands, the average discharge burn-up level is lower for higher power level. Small power level in the oder
of 200 MWt and 300 MWt has limitations in term of criticallity. Therefore they need to use higher discharge burn-op
level to get better criticallity[5-6]. The turning point of k-inf value is also appear at lower time for smaller power level
which related to slightly higher average power density and discharge burn-up level. The converion ratio pattern seems
rather similar.

Table 2 : Calculation results comparasion among 200 MWt, 300MWt and 400 MWt cases

No Parameters Case 200MWt Case 300 MWt Case 400 MWt

1 Core height (cm) 180 200 230
2 Core diameter(cm) 180 210 240
3 Burnup level (%HM) 20.79 20.06 18.40
4 Max/min keff- value 1.0519/1.0095 1.0616/1.0148 1.0548/1.0044
5 Max/min Peak power density(W/cc) 161.9/155.4 188.8/171.4 199.8/168.3
6 Max/min conversion ratio 15.489/0.972 15.489/0.973 15.489/0.992
7 Max/min k-inf 1.1978/0.3575 1.1981/0.3575 1.1979/0.3575
8 Turnng point of k-inf value (year) 82 84 90

4. Conclusion

Conceptual design study of 200-400MWt small long life Pb-208 cooled fast reactors which can directly consume
natural Uranium as fuel cycle input by employing axial-radial combined shuffling Modified CANDLE burn-up
scheme has been performed. Calculation results show that 200 MWt small long life Modified CANDLE burn-up
scheme fast reactors can be realized using helium gas coolant and employing axial-radial combined shuffling. Burn-
up level increases slowly during breeding period and increases fastly during burning period. At the first 10 years of
fuel history the fuel is located near the 10th region which is part of the burning zone so that the increase is burn-up
level is faster compare to the its next 50 years of fuel history. The discharge burn-up level are about 18.5%HM-
20%HM. At power level 300 MWt and below the criticallity becomes important issue.

Acknowledgement

This research is funded by research grant from Ministry of Research and Higher Educations, Indonesia 2015-2016.

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 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 9
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