Lectures on Thermal-Hydraulics in Nuclear Energy Engineering

Lecture No 01

Title:
Heat Sources in Nuclear Reactors

SH2701 HT23

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 1
 Outline of the Lecture
• Introduction
• Thermal Power of Fission Reactors
• Distribution of Thermal Power in Reactors
• Decay Heat

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 2
 Introduction
• The operational power of the nuclear reactor core is
limited by thermal, not nuclear, considerations

• The main limiting factors, determining the power, are:

• the rates at which heat can be transported from the reactor core
• the maximum allowable temperatures in reactor core
components, such as:
• fuel temperature shall be always below the melting temperature
• cladding temperature shall be below the phase-change temperature
in the cladding material

• Temporal and spatial temperature gradients in

construction materials are limited by damage risks
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 3
 Fission Energy
• The thermal energy released in reactors originates from
fission of fuel nuclei
• In current reactors, the main fissile material that is used
is uranium isotope 235U
• During reactor operation, additional fissile material,
isotope of plutonium 239Pu, is produced (transmuted)
from fertile material 238U
• Other fissile materials include 241Pu and 233U
• All these isotopes release slightly different amounts of
energy after fissions. This energy can be estimated as:
e f = 1.29927 10−3 Z 2 A0.5 + 33.12 (MeV / fission) Z- atomic number
A- atomic mass

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 4
 Fission Energy in LWRs
• In typical LWR only about ½ of all neutrons are absorbed
in fissile isotopes and the rest are captured by
• fertile isotopes
• control materials
• coolant/moderator
• structural materials
• Fresh fuel is typically enriched with 235U to between 3.5
and 5% wt%
• Close to the end of fuel cycle, energy released from
fissions of plutonium may reach up to 50% of the total
energy

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 5
 Fission Power and Thermal
Power
• Total energy generated in a reactor core due to fission is
called the fission power, qf (W)
• this includes all the energy released from the fission, inelastic
scattering and neutron capture

• Not all fission power stays, however, in the reactor core,

since 5% is carried away by neutrinos, whereas the rest
is deposited in the core and shields

• The fraction of the fission power that is deposited in the

core/shields (0.95 qf) is called the thermal power qth (W)
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 6
 Fission Power and Thermal
Power
• Fission reactor power can be roughly estimated as:

Vc  f 
Number of fissions per unit core volume and unit time

qf = (W)
3.1 1010
Number of fissions per second to generate 1 W

• here Vc is the volume of the reactor core (m3)

• qf is the reactor fission power (W)
•  f is the core-mean macroscopic cross section for fission (1/m)
•  is the core-mean neutron flux (1/m2s)
•The above expression gives the total energy released in fissions, even
the energy carried away by neutrinos. Since this energy is lost, the
reactor thermal power is found as:

qth = 0.95q f
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 7
 Power Distribution in Fuel Rod
• The thermal power is distributed between fuel rods,
coolant/moderator, shields and construction materials

• Estimates show that in PWRs the amount of heat

deposited in fuel material is about 88.4% of qf, 2.5% in
the moderator and 4.1% in the structure (of which 3% in
the cladding and the rest in thermal shields)

• We can express the amount of heat deposited to fuel

rods qFR (fuel+cladding) in terms of the thermal power
as:
qFR = 0.914q f = 0.914 qth 0.95  0.962qth
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 8
 Core and Fuel Power Density
• The power density in a reactor core can be calculated in
two ways:
• As a core-mean power density, when the thermal power is
divided by the whole core volume (fuel + structure +
coolant/moderator):

qc = qth Vc = qth ( R 2 H )

• As a fuel-mean power density, when the thermal power fraction

that stays in fuel rod is divided by the fuel volume only

qF = qFR VF We take a conservative approach and allocate

all heat released in fuel rods to fuel pellets

• where the fuel volume can be found from known fuel pellet
radius rF and the total fuel rod length in the core, LF: VF =  rF LF
2

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 9
 Core and Fuel Power Density
Power density distribution along
a single fuel rod follows the
Fuel cosine function:
z 
qF ( z ) = qF ( 0 ) cos  
Gas gap  H 
where qF ( 0 ) - is the power
Cladding density at z =0.

qF = qFR VF Here qF ( 0 ) and qF ( z )

represent mean power densities
in a fuel cross-section area.

Fuel rF More detailed analysis indicates

volume that the fuel power density has
rG
VF =  r LF2
F rC
a radial distribution in a rod.

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 10
 Linear Power in Fuel
• Linear power is defined in fuel rods

• It is defined as rod power distribution per its unit length

qF ( z ) dz

dF

F ( z ) is a linear power density at location z, the


• Assuming qq’(z)
energy balance for a differential fuel volume gives:
qF ( z )  dz   d F2 4 = qF ( z ) dz thus qF ( z ) = qF ( z )   d F2 4

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 11
 Heat Flux on Clad
• Heat flux is defined on the outer clad surface

• It is defined as rod power distribution per unit clad outer

surface
No heat transfer
heat flux q’’ qF ( z ) dz
in the axial
direction is
dF assumed
cladding
dC
q ( z ) is a heat flux on clad outer surface at z,
• Assuming q’(z)
the energy balance for a differential fuel volume gives:
qF ( z )  dz   d F2 4 = q ( z )   d C  dz thus q ( z ) = qF ( z )  d F2 ( 4d C )

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 12
 Thermal Power Distribution
• Thus, the thermal power (qth = 0.95*qf) is distributed as
follows:

Region % of qf % of qth
Deposited Fuel 88.4 93.0
Deposited
inside Cladding 3.0 3.2 inside reactor
reactor core pressure
Moderator 2.5 2.6
vessel
Thermal shields 1.1 1.2

• All this thermal power is removed from the reactor

pressure vessel by the coolant

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 13
 Coolant Enthalpy Increase
• In LWRs, 100% of the thermal power is gained by
coolant, which is passing through the downcomer, the
lower plenum, the core and the upper plenum
• From the energy balance for the reactor pressure vessel,
we get the following :
WRPV iRPV = qth

• And the coolant enthalpy increase in RPV is:

WRPV – coolant mass
qth
iRPV = flow rate through the
WRPV reactor pressure
vessel (kg/s)

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 14
 Coolant Enthalpy Increase
• 98.8% of the thermal power is released in the core area
(fuel, cladding and moderator)
• From the energy balance for the reactor core, we get the
following :
Wc ic = 0.988  qth = qc

• And the coolant enthalpy increase in the core is:

Wc – coolant mass
0.988  qth qc flow rate through the
ic = = reactor core (kg/s)
qc – thermal power
Wc Wc released in the core
(W)
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 15
 Thermal Power Distribution in Fission
Reactors
•Distribution of thermal
power density in nuclear
reactors depends on the
shape of the reactor:
–Finite cylindrical with
radius R and height H:
–Sphere with radius R:
–Rectangular
parallelepiped with sides
a, b, c:
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01
J0(x) – Bessel function of first
kind and zero order. See
Compendium, Appendix B
R
 2.405r   z 
q(r , z ) = q0J 0  ~  cos ~ 
H  R  H
Note: dimensions
R r with tilde are so-called
~ sin ~
R extrapolated
q(r ) = q0  R dimensions to avoid
  r zero flux at reactor
boundary
 x   y   z 
c q( x, y, z ) = q0cos ~  cos ~  cos ~ 
a  b  c 
b q0 - power density at the core
a centre; r=0, z=0
Slide No 16
 Cylindrical Core (1)
• The overall thermal power distribution in a cylindrical
reactor with uniform concentration of fissile material is
given as
 2.405r   z 
q(r , z ) = q0J 0  ~  cos ~  R = R+d H = H + 2d
 R  H
• here d is the extrapolation length, which for a bare core is
d=0.71λtr and λtr is the neutron transport length in the core
material
• For a reflected cylindrical reactor we can roughly assume:
R H 5
 
R H 6

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 17
 Cylindrical Core (2)
• The average power density in a cylindrical core can be
found as:
q0  2.405r  z 
R H /2

q =  J 0
R H 0  R 
2  2 rdr 
− H /2
cos   dz
H 

• We use here the following rule for integration of the

Bessel function of the first kind and zero order:
r
r
 xJ ( x ) dx =  J ( r )
0 1 α - constant
• and we get 0

~ ~
2R  2.405R  2 H  H 
q  = q0 J1  ~  sin  ~ 
2.405R  R  H  2H 

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 18
 Power Distribution

Power density Mean power

Volume distribution density
R
 2.405r   z  ~ ~
V = R 2 H q(r , z ) = q0J 0  ~  cos ~  q  = q 2R J  2.405R  2H sin  H 
H  R  H 0 ~
2.405R  R  H
1 ~
 2H 

R r ~ 2 ~
~ sin ~
R  R  R  R   R 
4 q  = 3q0   sin  ~  − cos ~ 
V = R 3 q(r ) = q0  R
 R   R  R   R 
3   r

~
a~b c~  2   a   b 
3

c q  = q0   sin  ~  sin  ~ 

abc     2a   2b 
V = a bc  x   y   z 
q( x, y, z ) = q0cos ~  cos ~  cos ~ 
 c 
a  b  c   sin  ~ 
 2c 
b
a
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 19
 Peaking Factors (1)
• Peaking factor is a ratio of the maximum to average
power densities in a reactor core
• Peaking factor can be calculated for the whole core
volume: q0 q ( 0, 0 )
f = =
q
V
1
V 
V
qdV
• In a cylindrical core, we have in addition radial and axial
peaking factors: q ( r , 0 )
 q ( 0, z P )
f R ( zP ) = f A ( rP ) = P
1
q( rP , z ) dz
1 H /2
q( r , z P ) 2 rdr 
R

 R2  0 H − H /2

• Here zP and rP are fixed values of the axial and radial

coordinates at which peaking factors are defined
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 20
 Peaking Factors (2)
• For example for a fuel rod located at r=rP distance from
the centreline, the axial peaking factor is found as:

 2.405rP 
q0J 0   cos ( 0 )
f A ( rP ) =  R  =
1 H /2  2.405 rP    z 
H − H /2
q 
0 0
J
 R 
 cos 
H 
 dz
1 H
=
1 H /2 z   H 
H  − H /2
cos  
H 
dz 2 H sin   
2 H

• As can be seen the axial peaking factor does not depend

on rP
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 21
 Peaking Factors (3)
• Similarly for a core cross-section located at z=zP, the
radial peaking factor is found as:

z 
q0J 0 ( 0 ) cos  P 
f R ( zP ) =  H  =
1 R  2.405 r  
 Pz
2 0
q 
0 0
J  2  r cos   dr
R  R   H 
1 2.405  R
=
1 R  2.405r   2.405 R 
 R 2 0 0  R 
J 2 rdr 2 R  J 1 
 R 

• As can be seen the radial peaking factor does not

depend on zP
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 22
 Power Distribution – Peaking
Factors
Assuming extrapolation
Mean power density length equal to zero

R
~ ~ q  = 0.274824q0
2R  2.405R  2 H  H 
q  = q0 J1  ~  sin  ~ 
H 2.405R  R  H  2H 
q0 = 3.63869q 

3q0
R ~ 2 ~
 R  R  R   R 
q  =  0.303964q
q  = 3q0   sin  ~  − cos ~   2
 R   R  R   R 
q0 = 3.28986q 
8q0
q  =  0.258012q
c
q  = q0
~
a~b c~  2 
3
 a   b   c 
  sin  ~  sin  ~  sin  ~ 
 3

abc     2a   2b   2c 
q0 = 3.87579q 
b
a
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 23
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (1)

• After reactor scram the fission thermal power is fast decreasing, (e.g.
to 1% of full power after 4 s) however, decay heat is still generated in
the fuel

•Calculation of the decay heat is important to determine the required

cooling that must be provided after reactor scram or normal shutdown

•The decay heat results from gamma and beta radioactive decay of
fission products

•There is also contribution from actinides, mainly 239U and 239Np, which
is in a range from a few percent to maximum 20%

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 24
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (2)

• During reactor operation, the decay heat is corresponding to about 7

to 8 % of the total power

•After reactor shutdown, the decay heat exponentially decreases with

time, where the time change is mainly governed by short-lived fission
products

•After normal shutdown, the fission power decreases slower, e.g. the
power is below 10% after 10 seconds

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 25
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (3)

• In a simplified analysis, a one-equation model can be used to

approximate the decay power after shutdown

• As an example, using this model for a reactor with 3500 MWt during
normal operation, the power after shut down drops to 227.5 MWt – still
a considerable thermal power that requires efficient reactor cooling

• According to this model, the decay heat is given as follows:

Shutdown
qD 0.065  1 1  t=0 t=top
= 0.2  0.2 − 0.2 
Reactor t>top
q top  ( + 1)   = (t − top ) top

•Here qD is the decay heat, q is the reactor thermal power before shut-down, top is
the reactor operation time [s] and t is time after reactor start-up [s]

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 26
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (4)
0.06
qD/q
t_op = 1 m
0.05 t_op = 2 m
t_op = 6 m
Relative power

0.04 t_op = 12 m

0.03

0.02

0.01
Standard curves of
relative decay power
0 after shutdown for
0.000001 0.0001 0.01 1 various reactor
Rel. time after shutdown θ operation periods

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 27
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (5)

• In more accurate calculations of the emergency cooling, models

developed by ANS (American Nuclear Society) are used

•In ANS-71 algorithm, all fissions resulting from 235U are taken into
account and an infinite operation time before shutdown is assumed

•For licensing purposes an uncertainty factor ε is added

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 28
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (6)
i Ei λi [1/s]
• The ANS-71 algorithm 1 2.99E-3 1.772E+0
is as follows: the fission product 2 8.25E-3 0.577E+0
contribution is found as
3 15.50E-3 6.743E-2
qD , FP    i =11

 i
− i t
= 1 + E  e 4 19.35E-3 6.214E-3
q0  100  i =1 5 11.65E-3 4.739E-4
6 6.45E-3 4.810E-5
ε [%] t [s]
7 2.31E-3 5.344E-6
20 0 < t < 103
8 1.64E-3 5.726E-7
10 103 < t < 107
9 0.85E-3 1.036E-7
25 107 < t < 109
10 0.43E-3 2.959E-8
qD,FP – fission product decay power,
q0 – reactor power before shutdown, 11 0.57E-3 7.585E-10
t – time after shutdown, s
Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 29
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (7)
• The contribution due to actinides is found as:
qD , ACT
q0
=
1
ef

F239U (t , T ) + F239 Np (t , T )  qD,ACT – decay power due to
actinides, ef – energy release
per fission , MeV

where ( )
F239U (t , T ) = EU  R  1 − e − U T e − U t
 U
F239 Np (t , T ) = E Np  R   (
1− e
−  NpT
)
e
−  Np t
−
Np
(
1− e − U T
)
− U t
e 

 U − Np U − Np 

EU – avearge decay energy for 239U = 0.474 MeV

λU – decay constant for 239U = 4.91E-4 s-1
t – time after shutdown,
ENp – avearge decay energy for 239Np = 0.419 MeV
T – time before shutdown,
λNp – decay constant for 239Np = 3.411E-6 s-1
R =0.7

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 30
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (8)

• The total decay heat is found as:

qD ,TOT qD , FIS qD , FP qD , ACT

= + +
q0 q0 q0 q0

qD , FIS
where is the fission power contribution (due to delayed
q0
neutrons) 10 s after reactor shutdown

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 31
Decay heat in Fission Reactors (9)

• ANS has also developed more sophisticated models afterwords

•For example, ANS-79 takes into account variable power during reactor
operation

•In general ANS-79 gives 6-7 % lower decay power during the first 105
s, as compared to ANS-71

•Subsequent standard revisions were issued in 1994 and 2005

•improve accounting for neutron capture in fission products
•improve prediction of decay heat from fissionable nuclides 235U, 239Pu, 241Puth,
238U
fast
•include power from additional actinide isotopes (239U, 239Np)
•extend to longer time 1010 s after reactor shutdown

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 32
 Example
•Example:

–Calculate the power density at the center of reactor cores with three
different shapes, assuming that the volumes and the total powers of the
reactor cores are the same.

–estimate the ratios assuming the extrapolated dimensions equal to the

physical dimensions ( R R = H H = 1 ).

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 33
 Example
•Solution:

–if the total power and the volume in a finite cylinder and a sphere are the
same, then the mean power density has to be the same as well.

–thus, we can find the ratio of the power density at the centers as follows

q  = 0.274824q0,cyl = 0.303964q0, sph

cylinder sphere

q0,cyl 0.303964
Ratio =   1.10603
q0, sph 0.274824

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 34
 Example
•Solution:

–in a similar manner, we find the ratio of power density of cylinder to

parallelepiped

q  = 0.274824q0,cyl = 0.258012q0, par

cylinder parallelepiped

q0,cyl 0.258012
Ratio =   0.938828
q0, par 0.274824

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 35
 Example

•Conclusions:

–the ratio of the maximum power density to the mean power density is the
smallest one in the spherical shape and is equal to 3.29
–The same ratio for the cylindrical reactor is 3.64
–The highest ratio is obtained for the parallelepiped and is 3.88

–most reactor cores have the cylindrical shape due to construction

simplicity as compared with the spherical shape.

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 36
 Example

•Calculate the total peaking factor in a cylindrical core assuming

R H 5
 
R H 6

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 37
 Example

•Solution:
H 5 1
fA = = 1.355
  H  26   5 
2 H sin    sin  
2 H  2 6

2.405  R 2.405 5 1
fR = = 1.738
 2.405 R  2 6  5 
2 R  J1   J 1 2.405 
 R   6

• Answer: the total peaking factor is fA*fR = 2.35578

Thermal-hydraulics in Nuclear
Energy Engineering – Lecture 01 Slide No 38