A highly flexible approach to fuel management

Abstract

The invention discloses a high-flexibility fuel management method. The method comprises the following steps: determining the cycle length of the first cycle in the reactor core initial design stage; establishing a transition cycle between the head circulation and equilibrium cycles; determining a plurality of equilibrium cycles; setting a flexible cycle on the basis of each equilibrium cycle; and determining switching cycles among different equilibrium cycles, wherein the cycle length of each switching cycle is approximate to the cycle length of the target equilibrium cycle. The method can greatly enhance the operational flexibility and economical efficiency of the nuclear generator set so as to cope with the network load demand and the challenge of great availability changes of the set.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the technical field of nuclear reactor core fuel management, in particular to a highly flexible fuel management method. Background technique [0002] Domestic and foreign commercial pressurized water reactors will be loaded with several groups of nuclear fuel assemblies. Generally, all new fuel will be loaded in the first cycle. The nuclear fuel assemblies will continue to fission and release energy. Insufficient, the core is difficult to continue to maintain fission. At this time, control rods are generally inserted to maintain the core at a deep subcritical state, the temperature and pressure of the primary circuit are lowered, the upper cover of the pressure vessel is opened, and several groups of fuel assemblies with low reactivity and deep burnup are removed and loaded into Several groups of new fuel assemblies with high reactivity can be restarted after refueling and overhaul (about 30 days). The time interval between t...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0005] Because the cycle length only fluctuates around a specific length, the flexibility is insufficient, and it is difficult to meet the changing requirements of unit operation and overhaul

[0006] The unit can only operate around a certain cycle (such as 12, 18 or 24 months). When the demand for power generation changes greatly, it will cause the current fuel management cycle to be uneconomical or even inapplicable and forced to shut down

[0007] If you want to maintain economy and flexibility, you need to ask the design unit to redesign the demonstration, and the demonstration and license application are expensive (about 40 million to 100 million yuan), and it will take 2 to 5 years

[0008] Even if the demonstration is completed, there may be changes in the form of future power generation, resulting in new inapplicability and repeated demonstrations

[0009] In short, the traditional fuel management method is not flexible enough to adapt to the flexible and changeable market demand, which seriously affects the operational flexibility and economy of nuclear power units.

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