Preliminary design of boron-free small modular pressurized water reactor

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary design of a Small Modular Pressurized Water Reactor (SMPWR) with new burnable absorber (BA) materials to achieve the goal of an advanced core design of boron-free SMPWR. The target values of reactivity swing, axial offset (AO), 3D pin peaking factor (Fq), and the shutdown margin are set for SMR. The R-BA and HfB2 are assessed as new materials for the burnable absorber and control rods to satisfy those goals. A sensitivity study for optimal fuel assemblies and loading pattern has been performed. Furthermore, the excess reactivity control during the operation and reactivity balance calculation at the beginning of cycle (BOC) are analyzed to assess the performance of the SMPWR.