Submitted by Pedro Barros (pedro.silvabarros@ufpe.br) on 2018-08-22T20:19:29Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO Rhayanne Yalle Negreiros Costa.pdf: 2681406 bytes, checksum: 3d80c34f818b93c881e614e282df8092 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Alice Araujo (alice.caraujo@ufpe.br) on 2018-08-29T21:33:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO Rhayanne Yalle Negreiros Costa.pdf: 2681406 bytes, checksum: 3d80c34f818b93c881e614e282df8092 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-29T21:33:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO Rhayanne Yalle Negreiros Costa.pdf: 2681406 bytes, checksum: 3d80c34f818b93c881e614e282df8092 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-22 / CNPq / Os benefícios da utilização de tecnologia nuclear para a geração de energia são inúmeros. É uma fonte com poucas emissões de gases do efeito estufa, podendo suprir a crescente demanda sem impactos tão severos ao meio ambiente; que possui alta regularidade, podendo fornecer estabilidade aos sistemas energéticos; e que ajuda a desenvolver tecnologia e conhecimento. O reator AP1000 da companhia Westinghouse busca o desenvolvimento de sistemas mais simples e com maior confiabilidade, com redução de equipamentos e materiais, e menores chances de acidentes graves como fusão do núcleo do reator ou grandes emissões radioativas. Para isso, utiliza-se de tecnologia passiva e sistemas simplificados exigindo menos intervenções e tornando-o uma das tecnologias mais robustas atualmente. O AP1000 é o reator do tipo PWR mais seguro e economicamente favorável do mercado. Essas características o tornam um dos sistemas em uso mais pesquisados. Entretanto, sistemas complexos como um reator nuclear podem encontrar-se submetidos a diversos cenários que precisam ser avaliados para que os níveis de segurança dos mesmos possam ser determinados. Uma das informações mais importantes para a operação do reator é o comportamento térmico do sistema, principalmente dentro do núcleo onde as variações de temperaturas são bruscas e intensas. Esse trabalho busca avaliar um canal nominal do reator AP1000 e seu comportamento térmico em alguns cenários. Para a obtenção dessas informações, aplica-se o Método dos Volumes Finitos (MVF) com o auxílio de software MATLAB para determinar a distribuição de temperaturas em todo o canal. Durante o progresso do presente trabalho, três análises foram desenvolvidas: uma análise unidimensional e uma bidimensional, ambas estacionárias, e uma bidimensional transitória. A partir da análise unidimensional foi possível verificar que tanto a aproximação adotada para a integral volumétrica da geração de calor, quanto os métodos adotados são apropriados para avaliar sistemas térmicos como os desse trabalho. A análise bidimensional estacionária apresenta os impactos da consideração do gap e da transmissão de calor na direção axial nas barras de combustível nuclear. Ambos fatores influenciam de maneira relevante as distribuições de temperaturas do sistema, e não devem ser desprezados em análises mais precisas. Por fim, as análises bidimensionais transitórias permitiram determinar que o sistema permaneceu seguro mesmo submetido a bloqueios de até 30% da vazão do refrigerante na entrada do canal. Entretanto, quando a dissipação de calor axial foi desprezada, apenas sob o primeiro bloqueio (10%) o canal permaneceu seguro. / The benefits of nuclear technology usage for power generation are numerous. It is a low greenhouse gases emission source, capable of helping to provide for the growing demand with minor environmental impacts; it is a highly reliable resource due to its regularity offering stability to energy systems; and it helps to develop technology and knowledge. Westinghouse Co. AP1000 reactor is the development of a simpler and more reliable system, with less equipment and materials, and smaller probability of serious accidents such as melting of the reactor core or large radiation emissions. It uses passive technology and simplified systems that requires fewer interventions making it one of the most robust technologies nowadays. The AP1000 is the safest and more economically favorable PWR reactor on the market. These features make it one of the most researched systems in use. Complex systems such as a nuclear reactor may be subjected to various scenarios that need to be evaluated in order to determine its safety levels. One of the most important information for the operation of the reactor is the thermal behavior of the system, especially in the core where the variations are sudden and intense. This work aims to evaluate a nominal channel of AP1000 reactor and its thermal behavior in a few scenarios. This information is obtained through the application of Finite Volume Method (FVM) with MATLAB software aid that determines the temperature distribution throughout the channel. During the present study, three analyzes were developed: a one-dimensional and a two-dimensional analysis, both stationary, and a transient two-dimensional analysis. Through one-dimensional analysis it was possible to verify that both the approximation adopted for the volumetric integral of heat generation, and the methods are appropriate to evaluate thermal systems like those in this work. The two-dimensional stationary analysis presents the impacts of gap consideration and axial heat transfer in the nuclear fuel rods. Both factors are relevant for temperature distributions and should not be neglected in more precise analyzes. Finally, the transient two-dimensional analyzes allowed to determine that the system remained safe even under coolant blockages up to 30% at the inlet of the channel. However, when the axial heat dissipation was neglected, the system remained safe only under the first blockage (10%).

Minimization of HLW inventories and U consumption are key elements guaranteeing nuclear energy expansion. The integration of complex nuclear systems into a viable cycle yet constitutes a challenging multi-parametric optimization problem. The reactors and fuel cycle performance parameters may be strongly dependent on minor variations in the system's input data. Proven discrepancies in nuclear data evaluations could affect the validity of the system optimization metrics. This study first analyzes various advanced AP1000-VHTR fuel cycle scenarios by assessing their TRU destruction and their U consumption minimization capabilities, and by computing reactor performance parameters such as the time evolution of the effective multiplication factor keff, the reactors' energy spectrum or the isotopic composition/activity at EOL. The performance metrics dependence to prompt neutron fission spectrum discrepancies is then quantified to assess the viability of one strategy. Fission spectrum evaluations are indeed intensively used in reactors' calculations. Discrepancies higher than 10% have been computed among nuclear data libraries for energies above 8MeV for 235U. TRU arising from a 3wt% 235U-enriched UO2-fueled AP1000 were incinerated in a VHTR. Fuels consisting of 20%, 40% and 100% of TRU completed by UO2 were examined. MCNPX results indicate that up to 88.9% of the TRU initially present in a VHTR fueled with 20% of TRU and 80% of ThO2 were transmuted. Additionally, the use of WgPu instead of RgPu should reduce the daily consumption of 235U by 1.3 and augment core lifetime. To estimate the system metrics dependence to fission spectrum discrepancies and validate optimization studies outputs, the VTHR 235U fission spectrum distribution was altered successively in three manners. keff is at worst lowered by 1.7% of the reference value and the energy spectrum by 5% between 50meV and 2MeV when a significantly distorted fission spectrum tail is used. 233U, 236Pu and 237Pu inventories and activities are multiplied by 263, 523 and 34 but are still negligible compared to 239Pu mass or the total activity. The AP1000-VHTR system is in conclusion not dependent on the selected fission spectrum variations. TRU elimination optimization studies in AP1000-VHTR systems will be facilitated by freeing performance metrics dependency from 1 input parameter.

The safety performance of nuclear power reactors is a very important factor in evaluating nuclear energy sustainability. Improving the safety performance of nuclear reactors can enhance nuclear energy sustainability as it will improve the environmental indicator used to evaluate the overall sustainability of nuclear energy. Great interest is given now to advanced nuclear reactors especially those using passive safety components. Investigation of the improvement in nuclear safety using advanced reactors was done by comparing the safety performance of a conventional reactor which uses active safety systems, such as Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), with an advanced reactor which uses passive safety systems, such as AP1000, during a design basis accident, such as Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA), using the PCTran as a simulation code. To assess the safety performance of PWR and AP1000, the “Global Safety Index” GSI model was developed by introducing three indicators: probability of accident occurrence, performance of safety system in case of an accident occurrence, and the consequences of the accident. Only the second indicator was considered in this work. A more detailed model for studying the performance of passive safety systems in AP1000 was developed. That was done using SCDAPSIM/RELAP5 code as it is capable of modelling design basis accidents (DBAs) in advanced nuclear reactors.

The main target of the master´s thesis is reviewing the generation III nuclear reactors in term of the nuclear safety. At first we have to learn some theory of the nuclear safety in order to understand safety systems of the generation III nuclear reactors. Therefore the thesis is divided into two parts. Legislative and technical approaches to nuclear safety are mentioned in the first part. Regulatory bodies, whose task is to supervise nuclear safety in the nuclear power plants, belongs to the legislative approaches. There are defined terms such as defence in depth, redundancy, diversity, etc. There are mentioned methods to assessing nuclear safety – deterministic and probabilistic methods, especially probabilistic methods, for which a simple example is provided. There are also mentioned active and passive safety systems and their significance for nuclear safety and inherent safety too. There is an example of the function of the active and passive safety systems of the EDU nuclear power plant in conclusion of this issue. The second part deals with description of the selected nuclear reactors in context of the construction of the new units of nuclear power plant in Temelín. The nuclear reactors from companies, which applied for the public tender opened by ČEZ, a. s., for the construction of the ETE 3+4. Thus, the nuclear reactor MIR-1200 by ATOMSTROYEXPORT (Russian Federation), the nuclear reactor AP1000 by WESTINGHOUSE (USA) and the nuclear reactor EPR by AREVA (France) are taken into account . Comparison of the generation II and these generation III+ nuclear reactors necessarily belongs to this master´s thesis. These the generation III+ nuclear reactors are compared with the nuclear reactor VVER 440 (EDU) and in particular with the nuclear reactor VVER 1000, which is operated in the nuclear power plant Temelín. The final chapter contains generally appraisal of the whole problem.