<p>The supercritical water cooled reactor (SCWR) is a Generation IV reactor concept that features light water coolant in a supercritical state. Canada is developing a pressure tube variant of the supercritical water reactor as an evolution of the CANDU reactor. The main advantages of the pressure tube SCWR are an improved thermal efficiency over current reactors, enhanced safety through passive safety features, and plant simplifications. The objective of this thesis was to investigate current fuel and core designs for the Canadian SCWR concept.</p> <p>Simulations of 2-D lattice cells for fuel assemblies containing 43 and 54 fuel elements were performed using the neutron transport code WIMS-AECL. Safety parameters and fuel burnup performance were investigated here. Three dimensional full core simulations were performed using the diffusion code RFSP. These studies examined batch fueling, cycle length, radial and axial power profiles, linear element ratings, and reduction of axial power peaking through graded enrichment along the fuel channel. Finally, a study of reactivity transients was performed using the FUELPIN heat transfer/point kinetics code.</p> <p>The main results of the studies show that the coolant density change that occurs as water passes through the pseudocritical point strongly affects fuel performance. It is concluded that the 54 element assembly design is acceptable in terms of coolant void reactivity performance with lattice pitch smaller than 26 cm. To meet the burnup target, a fuel enrichment of about 5% is required. From the RFSP studies, this level of fuel enrichment will provide an operating period of 370 days between refueling. Relatively high axial power peaking is observed at the beginning of cycle conditions. A main finding is that the proposed reactor power level of 2540 MWth produces unacceptably high linear element ratings. This is confirmed using the FUELPIN code. A reduction in linear element rating is suggested for consideration.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Knowledge of the effects of nuclear data uncertainties and physics approximations is crucial for the development, design, operation, and accident mitigation, of nuclear power plants. A framework to create a simulated fuel bundle, based on sensitivities and similarities, has been developed. The methodology allows safe-to-handle fuel to be manufactured such that it mimics irradiated fuel and can be used to reduce simulation uncertainties and better predict an application’s response. In this work, similarity values of ck = 0.967, E = 0.992, and G = 0.891 were found between between the irradiated fuel, and non-irradiated simulated fuel. In addition, a set of ZED-2 experiments has been analyzed that are applicable to an SCWR nuclear data adjustment and simulation bias determination. This was shown through high sensitivity coverage of many important nuclides, however, a low completeness value of R=0.24 indicates the set of 39 experiments alone is not sufficient for an accurate bias determination. Lastly, a technique has been presented that reduces diffusion calculation errors through the use of novel and practical mean discontinuity factors. The discontinuity factors have shown to reduce maximum channel power errors by up to 6.7%, and reactivity errors by 2.6 mk, compared to conventional analysis techniques. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Use of practical discontinuity factors has shown to reduce channel power predictions significantly. Furthermore, an experimental and numerical technique has been developed to improve neutron transport predictions. Finally, a set of experiments have been modeled and simulated to determine their applicability to the SCWR.

The SuperCritical Water-cooled nuclear Reactor (SCWR) is one of six Generation-IV nuclear-reactor concepts currently being designed. It will operate at pressures of 25 MPa and temperatures up to 625°C. These operating conditions make a SuperCritical Water (SCW) Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) suitable to support thermochemical-based hydrogen production via co-generation. The Copper-Chlorine (Cu‒Cl) cycle is a prospective thermochemical cycle with a maximum temperature requirement of ~530°C and could be linked to an SCW NPP through a piping network. An intermediate Heat eXchanger (HX) is considered as a medium for heat transfer with operating fluids selected to be SCW and SuperHeated Steam (SHS). Thermalhydraulic calculations based on an iterative energy balance procedure are performed for counter-flow double-pipe design concept HXs integrated at several locations on an SCW NPP coolant loop. Using various test cases, design and operating parameters are recommended for detailed future research. In addition, predicted effects of heat transfer enhancement on HX parameters are evaluated considering theoretical improvements from helically-corrugated HX piping. The effects of operating fluid pressure drop are briefly discussed for applicability in future studies. / UOIT

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:24:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00422.pdf: 1756629 bytes, checksum: 85b8a14cae110a01c2e28df8958192d9 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IEA/D / Escola Politecnica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - POLI/USP

<p>Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) is a Generation-IV nuclear reactor design that operates on a direct energy conversion cycle above the thermodynamic critical point of water (374⁰C and 22.1 MPa), and offers higher thermal efficiency and considerable design simplification. As an essential step in the design of SCWR safety systems, the accident behaviour of the reactor is evaluated to ensure that the safety systems can achieve safe shutdown for all the design basis accidents. Unfortunately, the computational tools and computer codes that are currently employed for safety analysis have little application in the supercritical region, and faces significant challenges in simulating the transitions from subcritical to supercritical conditions.</p> <p>This thesis examines the predictive capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code STAR-CCM+ by evaluating critical flow (or choked flow) due to accidental release of coolant from supercritical fluid systems. The biggest challenge of this research is that the current version of STAR-CCM+ does not support supercritical simulations because the steam tables included in the package are only limited to the subcritical subset of the thermodynamic fluid properties.</p> <p>The research was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the CFD code STAR-CCM+ was customized to simulate supercritical conditions by, (i) Generating updated steam tables to include subcritical and supercritical fluid properties and using more pressure and temperature points in the pseudo critical region (22 – 25 MPa, 645 -660 K) to handle the rapid changes in the fluid properties, and (ii) Implementing a multi-dimensional steam table interpolation scheme to access the fluid property data at any thermodynamic state during the simulation. In the second stage, the customized CFD code was extensively evaluated by simulating several accidental release scenarios from supercritical conditions using rounded-edge and sharp-edge nozzles and the model results were validated with experimental data. To overcome the solution stability (or convergence) issues encountered during the supercritical simulations, a fine tuning procedure was proposed that guaranteed convergence for all the case studies considered in this thesis.</p> <p>The simulation results revealed that the CFD model produced results that were in good agreement with experimental data and only about 10% prediction error was noticed for most cases considered in the thesis. Considering the sensitivity of the CFD model for upstream temperatures and pressures, these results appear to be quite reasonable. From the computational experience gained in this research , we believe that the CFD code STAR-CCM+ is a very useful tool to perform thermal hydraulic simulations for supercritical systems. However, an appropriate customization and extensive validation of the code is required before it can be exclusively used for safety analysis.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

With more restrictions regarding the use of refrigerants with high GWP-values, refrigeration systems that uses R744 (Carbon dioxide) as a refrigerant increases. Supermarkets are energy intense facilities where the refrigeration system utilize a significant part of the total utilized energy. Heat recovery have been proven beneficial and reduces the total energy utilization for the building.  This master thesis evaluates an existing R744 refrigeration system with heat recovery, for the purpose to find an optimal system configuration and control strategy that minimizes the operational costs. Today the refrigeration system uses a water-cooled condenser/gas cooler that during the period from February to November 2021 consumed 8 194 m3 of cooling water, that resulted in high water costs for the supermarket. With the development of a model that takes historical data as input can different system configurations and control strategies be tested and compered to the historical analysis of the existing refrigeration system. Four system configurations with different heat recovery solutions were evaluated.  The result of this study shows that the operational cost can be reduced by 31% (55 400 SEK) with a control strategy that adapts the discharge pressure to the facility’s heating demand. With maximized heat recovery the condenser/gas cooler load decreases and therefore the cooling water flow decreases too. With an additional heat exchanger in the supermarkets ventilation exhaust duct can the water consumption further be reduced, compared with similar system without an additional heat exchanger. The additional heat exchanger reduced the cooling water consumption by 1 400 m3 for the investigated period and reduced the total operational cost by 9 800 SEK. However, it is recommended to first apply the control strategy that adapts the discharge pressure to the heating demand, and from there evaluate the benefits of a heat exchanger in the exhaust duct. / Med ett allt strängare regelverk angående användandet av köldmedier med höga GWP-värden, ökar antalet kylanläggningar som använder R744 (Koldioxid) som köldmedium. Livsmedelsbutiker är energikrävande där kylsystemen är en stor del av den totala energimängd som nyttjas. Studier visar att värmeåtervinning för dessa system kan med fördel användas för att minska energianvändningen i fastigheten.  Detta masterexamensarbete utvärderar en befintlig R744-kylanläggning med värmeåtervinning, i syfte att finna en optimal systemkonfiguration och styr-strategi som minimerar driftkostnaderna. Idag används en vattenkyld kondensor/gaskylare som under perioden februari till november 2021 förbrukade 8 194 m3 kylvatten, vilket resulterade i höga vattenkostnader för butiken. Genom att utveckla en modell som använder historisk mätdata som indata kan olika systemlösningar och styr-strategier testas och jämföras med analysen av det befintliga kylsystemet. Fyra systemkonfigurationer med olika grad av värmeåtervinning utvärderades. Studiens resultat visar att driftkostnaderna kan reduceras genom att anpassa kylsystemens högtryck till fastighetens värmebehov. Genom att maximera värmeåtervinningen minskar nyttjandet av kondensorn/gaskylaren och därmed flödet av kylvatten. Med en extra värmeväxlare i butikens frånluftskanal kan vattenförbrukningen reduceras ytterligare jämfört med liknande system utan denna värmeväxlare. Dock rekommenderas att initialt nyttja en styrstrategi som anpassar högtrycket efter värmebehov, för att sedan utvärdera fördelarna med en värmeväxlare i ventilationens frånluftskanal.

The Master´s thesis is dealing with water-cooled condensers and is splitted into three main parts. The first section provides general knowledge about condensers and heat exchangers, including the basic information of hydrophobic surfaces. These surfaces were used during verifying the impact of hydrophobicity on the heat exchange in water steam. The second section describes an experimental testing. It shows the difference between hydrophobic and nonhydrophobic surfaces and their impact on the heat exchange. The third and the last part of this thesis is design and calculation of water-cooled condenser. The design of the condenser is supported by drawings placed in attachement.

Submitted by Claudinei Pracidelli (cpracide@ipen.br) on 2015-07-23T11:04:17Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-23T11:04:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Submitted by Claudinei Pracidelli (cpracide@ipen.br) on 2015-07-23T11:04:17Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-23T11:04:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Os experimentos realizados e apresentados nesta dissertação resultaram na caracterização neutrônica de núcleos na configuração cilíndrica com 30 varetas combustíveis de diâmetro com um espaço, criado pela retirada de 16 varetas centrais, preenchido com água leve (H2O) ou água pesada (D2O) no reator nuclear de pesquisa IPEN/MB-01. Nestes núcleos, efetuou-se experimentos de correlação de canais nucleares, calibração de barras de controle e irradiação de detectores de ativação de diversos materiais em forma de folhas, cujas faixas energéticas de atuação abrangem grande parte do espectro de nêutrons do núcleo do reator, para a obtenção de parâmetros nucleares, como excessos de reatividade, reatividades totais, atividades saturadas por núcleo alvo, razões espectrais, razões de cádmio e fluxo de nêutrons multigrupo. Com a irradiação de fios de ativação de ouro na parte radial foram obtidas as formas espaciais dos fluxos de nêutrons térmicos e epitérmicos. Os resultados mostraram as características espectrais dessa nova configuração com o espaço das 16 varetas combustíveis preenchido com os dois materiais moderadores. No espaço com a água leve houve um aumento significativo de 294% do fluxo de nêutrons térmicos em comparação com a configuração padrão retangular de 28×26 varetas combustíveis. Com a água pesada aumentou-se a reatividade do sistema com &rho; = (783 ± 54) pcm a mais de excesso de reatividade que na configuração com água leve. Os resultados calculados foram simulados nos códigos computacionais MCNP5, SANDBP e CITATION, onde se obtiveram resultados acurados e precisos para as atividades saturadas por núcleo alvo, as distribuições energéticas e espaciais dos fluxos de nêutrons da parte ativa e de parte do refletor e as comparações diretas das seções de choque entre as razões espectrais experimentais e calculadas. / Dissertação (Mestrado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Thesis is focused on calculation of the condenser of flue gas, which is created by burning of natural gas. In the first part is theoretical overview of equations describing film condensation and physical properties of the flue gas. The second part deals with practical thermal calculation of the specified condenser. In third part parametric study is done in which a tempature of cooling water at inlet and the coefficient of excess air are changed. The last part of the thesis is dedicated to geometric design of the flue gas condenser whose required power is 8 MW.