Introduction to Nuclear Engineering 1

- 제 10강-
Fission reactor principle II

2024/4/4

Seoul National University

Prof. Youho Lee

Conversion and Breeding-1

• All modern power reactors are converter reactors in a sense, although this is
not their primary function, since they contain substantial amounts of U-238
which will be transmuted into Pu-239 via neutron capture during normal
operation.

• A LWR contains a fuel mixture of roughly 3% U-235 and 97% U-238 in a

freshly loaded core. After a standard operating cycle, this fuel will contain
roughly 1% U-235 and 1% Pu-239, which can be separated out of the spent
fuel and refabricated into fresh fuel elements for reloading (reprocessing).

• It makes us think about a reactor that operates on U-238 and Pu-239. It

might even be possible to produce more Pu-239 than is burned – that is to
“breed” new fuel. This is the essential idea behind the concept of a breeder
reactor.

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Conversion and Breeding-2

• Conversion Ratio (CR): fissile atom production/fissile atom consumed.

Consuming N atoms of fuel during reactor operation will yield CR x N
atoms of the new fissile isotopes.

• If CR>1, we call it Breeding Ratio (BR). Hence CR=BR >1.

• Modern LWRs are characterized by a conversion ratio of CR ≈ 0.6

• High temperature gas cooled reactor gives somewhat higher conversion

ratios CR≈ 0.8

• Conversion ratio is largely determined by neutron spectrum, hence

slowing down (moderation).

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Reactor type and fuel cycle implications

• Th-232/U-233: The only attractive breeding cycle for thermal neutrons (see slide
for η value). “Thorium Fuel Cycle”.

• U-238/Pu-239 (>100keV): Requires fast neutrons, and this is the motivation behind
the fast breeder reactor.

• Thermal reactor (LWRs, FHRs, HTGRs, etc): Takes advantage of the large fission
cross section of fissile nuclides (U-235) at low neutron energy via engineered
neutron slowing down (moderation). It requires minimum amount of fissile
material for fueling and are the simplest reactor types to build and operate. Modest
fraction of fission reaction contribution (~2-5%) of U-238.

• Fast reactor (SFR, LFR, etc): capitalizes on large η . Fission cross sections in
fast reactors are some two orders of magnitude lower than those in
thermal neutron. Its fissile inventory requirements may run as much as
several times those required by thermal reactors just to maintain a critical
chain reaction with fast neutrons. U-238 fission has large contribution in
fast reactor (~20%).

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Thorium fuel cycle

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Overview of PWR

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The Primary System for a Westinghouse 4-Loop PWR

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Reactor Vessel and Internals

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Typical 4-Loop Reactor Vessel/Core Parameters

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Typical 4-Loop Reactor Vessel/Core Parameters

0.57mm

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LWR Fuel Geometry

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Typical PWR Fuel Rod Parameters

mm

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A formal calculation of k: the four-factor formula
The four factor formula Smeared
“homogenized”
reactor

Σ𝑎𝐹
𝑃𝐴𝐹 =
Σ𝑎
Averaged over energy and space

Σ𝐹
• 𝑃𝐴𝐹 = 𝑎
, Σ𝑎𝐹 : the macroscopic absorption cross section for the fuel,
Σ𝑎

Σ𝑎 : the rest of the material in the core

• 𝑃𝐴𝐹 ≡ 𝑓. ‘Thermal utilization factor’. This term arose in the early analysis of the
thermal reactors in which essentially all fissions in the fuel were induced by
thermal neutrons. In this case, 𝑓 is evaluated at thermal neutron energies.
However, it can be applied to any type of reactor.
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A formal calculation of k: the four-factor formula
The four factor formula Smeared
“homogenized”
reactor

Σ𝑎𝐹
𝑃𝐴𝐹 =
Σ𝑎
Averaged over energy and averaged over space

Σ𝐹 𝜎𝑓𝐹
• 𝑃𝑓 = Σ𝐹 = 𝜎𝐹,
𝑓
𝑎 𝑎
𝑘∞ is the infinite medium multiplication factor.
• 𝑁2 = 𝜈𝑃𝑓 𝑃𝐴𝐹 𝑃𝑁𝐿 𝑁1 This denotes the case where the reactor is
infinite size (𝑃𝑁𝐿 = 1). It is a useful parameter
𝜎𝑓𝐹 in the reactor analysis since it essentially characterizes
=𝜈 𝑓𝑃𝑁𝐿 𝑁1 = 𝜂𝑓𝑃𝑁𝐿 𝑁1 the multiplication properties of the material in the
𝜎𝑎𝐹
reactor as distant from the geometry of the reactor core.
Since 𝑃𝑁𝐿 <1 , 𝑘∞ >1 to achieve criticality.
𝑁
• 𝑘 = 𝑁2 = 𝜂𝑓𝑃𝑁𝐿 ⟹ 𝑘∞ = 𝜂𝑓
1

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Modification of for thermal reactors
Formal calculation of criticality
• 𝑓 and 𝜂 are evaluated at thermal neutron
energies.
• Although most fissions will be induced in
fissile material by thermal neutrons, some
fissions will be induced in both fissile and
fissionable material by fast neutrons.
• Fast fission factor 𝜖: (typically 1.03~1.15)
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠 (𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛)
𝜖≡ 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠

• Resonance escape probability p:

p ≡ Fraction of fission neutrons that manage
to slow down from fission to thermal energies
without being absorbed
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Four factor formula and Six factor formula
The four factor formula and six factor formula
• 𝑃𝑁𝐿 = 𝑃𝐹𝑁𝐿 𝑃𝑇𝑁𝐿
• 𝑃𝐹𝑁𝐿 ≡ 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡
• 𝑃𝑇𝑁𝐿 ≡ 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡
• Four factor formula:
PWR Pressurized- PHWR
𝑘∞ = 𝜂𝑓𝑝𝜖 H2O Reactor CANDU-D2O Reactor
 1.27 1.08
• Six factor formula: p 0.63 0.84
𝑘 = 𝜂𝑓𝑝𝜖𝑃𝐹𝑁𝐿 𝑃𝑇𝑁𝐿 f 0.94 0.97
T 1.89 1.31
• When operating,
k 1.41 1.12
a nuclear reactor
k @clean, cold condition>>1.0
runs with excessive reactivity reduction at hot condition and also loss from leakage and depletion
reactivity (𝑘∞ ≫ 1).
Softened spectrum for PHWR due to low thermal absorption
→ more fission in thermal energy (low fast fission factor)
( very high thermal flux due to low thermal absorption, low fuel fraction)
→ higher resonance escape prob. (or less absorption during slowing down)
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Design implications of the four (six) factor formula
The four (six) factor formula and six factor formula
• 𝑘 = 𝜂𝑓𝑝𝜖𝑃𝐹𝑁𝐿 𝑃𝑇𝑁𝐿 ⇒ 𝑘𝑒𝑓𝑓 = 𝑘∞ 𝑃𝐹𝑁𝐿 𝑃𝑇𝑁𝐿
• 𝜂 and 𝜖 are essentially fixed once the fuel has been chosen.
• 𝑓 and 𝑝 can be varied considerably by changing the ratio of fuel density to
moderator density. All of theses parameters can change depending on the fuel
and moderator geometry.
• 𝑃𝐹𝑁𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑇𝑁𝐿 depend on primarily the core geometry and size. Larger size,
spherical core (low S/V ratio), and surrounding the reactor by a material with
large scattering cross section so that some of the neutrons leaking out will be
scattered back into the reactor is advantageous.
• Most thermal reactor cores today are so large that leakage represents a rather
small loss mechanism (typically ~3% neutrons are lost via leakage).

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