Affiliation: | a Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Nuclear and Energy Technologies (IKET), D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany b Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, Cadarache, France c AREVA NP GmbH, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany d Hungarian Academy of Sciences (KFKI), Atomic Energy Research Institute, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary e University of Stuttgart, Institute for Nuclear and Energy Systems (IKE), Pfaffenwaldring 31, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany f Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group, Petten, The Netherlands g Nuclear Reactor Technology, Department of Physics, School of Engineering Sciences, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden h Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland i Centrum Vyzkumu Rez a.s., Czech Republic j VTT Technical Research Centre, 02044 VTT, Finland |
Abstract: | The High Performance Light Water Reactor (HPLWR), how the European Supercritical Water Cooled Reactor is called, is a pressure vessel type reactor operated with supercritical water at 25 MPa feedwater pressure and 500 °C average core outlet temperature. It is designed and analyzed by a European consortium of 10 partners and 3 active supporters from 8 Euratom member states in the second phase of the HPLWR project. Most emphasis has been laid on a core with a thermal neutron spectrum, consisting of small fuel assemblies in boxes with 40 fuel pins each and a central water box to improve the neutron moderation despite the low coolant density. Peak cladding temperatures of the fuel rods have been minimized by heating up the coolant in three steps with intermediate coolant mixing. The containment design with its safety and residual heat removal systems is based on the latest boiling water reactor concept, but with different passive high pressure coolant injection systems to cause a forced convection through the core. The design concept of the steam cycle is indicating the envisaged efficiency increase to around 44%. Moreover, it provides the constraints to design the components of the balance of the plant. The project is accompanied by numerical studies of heat transfer of supercritical water in fuel assemblies and by material tests of candidate cladding alloys, performed by the consortium and supported by additional tests of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Besides the scientific and technical progress, the HPLWR project turned out to be most successful in training the young generation of nuclear engineers in the technologies of light water reactors. More than 20 bachelor or master theses and more than 10 doctoral theses on HPLWR technologies have been submitted at partner organizations of this consortium since the start of this project. |