Boiling Water Reactor Fuel Loading Map Generation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing fuel core loading process for boiling water nuclear reactors is time-consuming and prone to errors due to the extensive shuffling of fuel bundles, which increases the risk of incorrect placement and prolongs the refueling operation, often requiring several days to complete.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for generating fuel loading maps that define even and odd cycle fuel bundle shift maps, discharge maps, and fresh fuel loading maps to minimize the number of fuel bundles moved and shuffled, focusing on confining shuffles to an outer annular region and alternating the placement of fresh and burnt bundles to reduce crane movements and errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If extensive fuel bundle shuffling is performed to meet thermal and reactivity margins, then the core loading strategy achieves equilibrium and adheres to design criteria, but the refueling time increases to several days and the risk of incorrect placement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the core into distinct regions (central region and outer annular region) and applies different shuffling strategies to each. The central region bundles are retained in place while only outer annular region bundles are shuffled, segmenting the problem to reduce overall complexity and time required
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the shuffling operation from the entire core and applies it only to the outer annular region. This extraction eliminates unnecessary shuffling operations in the central region, significantly reducing refueling time while maintaining core performance requirements
2Reliability
If most or all fuel bundles are moved during refueling to achieve equilibrium core loading, then thermal and reactivity margins are met, but the number of crane movements increases and the process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different treatment qualities to different regions: central region bundles are retained (no shuffling) while outer annular region bundles are shuffled. This local differentiation reduces process complexity while maintaining compliance with thermal and reactivity margins through targeted shuffling only where necessary
3Productivity
If the number of fuel bundles to be shuffled is reduced to decrease refueling time, then outage time is reduced and productivity increases, but it becomes more difficult to meet thermal and reactivity margins
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains margin compliance by applying shuffling operations locally to the outer annular region where they are most effective for meeting thermal and reactivity margins, while avoiding unnecessary shuffling in the central region. This localized approach maintains productivity by reducing total shuffling while ensuring reliability through targeted margin management
Data Source
AI summary
A method for generating fuel loading data for a core in a nuclear reactor, wherein the core includes an array of fuel locations in the core, the method includes: defining an even cycle bundle shift map of fuel bundles to be shifted to another core location during an even fuel loading cycle; defining an odd cycle shift map of fuel bundles to be shifted to another core location during an odd loading cycle, wherein the odd cycle and even cycle are alternative and successive core refueling cycles; defining a discharge map identifying the another locations to receive the bundles from the locations identified in the even and odd cycle shift maps, and generating shuffling instructions indicating which fuel bundles from a prior fuel cycle are to be shifted to one of the another locations of the core for a subsequent fuel cycle, wherein bundles to be shifted during the even fuel loading cycle are selected from the fuel bundles to be shifted identified in the even cycle bundle shift map and bundles to be shifted during the odd fuel loading cycle are selected from the fuel bundles to be shifted identified in the odd cycle bundle shift map.