New high-performance light water reactor core concept with mixed cycle length operation

Abstract

This paper presents a new high-performance light water reactor core concept with a mixed cycle length operation (MCLO). In an MCLO, a nuclear reactor core is operated with more than one cycle length for high-performance and cost-effectiveness during the lifetime of the reactor core. The MCLO cores were designed on the basis of an Optimized Pressurized Reactor-1000 and adopted a set of three cycles, that is, 24-, 24-, and 18-month cycles in a set of MCLO. Three sets of MCLO cores were developed with varying numbers of feed fuel assemblies, and optimization of the fuel management strategy was performed. A comparison of core performances against traditional single cycle length operation (SCLO) cores successfully demonstrates that the optimized MCLO is more economical than the 18-month SCLO by the amount of KRW 38bn and also more economical than the 24-month SCLO by the amount of KRW 11bn.