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BWXT will scout potential TRISO fuel production sites in Wyoming
BWX Technologies Inc. announced today that its Advanced Technologies subsidiary has signed a cooperation agreement with the state of Wyoming to evaluate locations and requirements for siting a potential new TRISO nuclear fuel fabrication facility in the state.
Alfred L. B. Ho, Alexander Sesonske
Nuclear Technology | Volume 58 | Number 3 | September 1982 | Pages 422-436
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT82-A32978
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Received December 1, 1981 Accepted for Publication March 10, 1982 A fast, yet accurate, fuel cycle analysis method-ology was developed to optimize the various options for in-core nuclear fuel management. The methodology encompasses two major parts, a multicycle point reactor model, PUFLAC, and a reload pattern optimization code called DSPWR. The PUFLAC model provides a convenient and reliable survey ability to explore the various fuel cycle scheme possibilities while DSPWR utilizes a direct search scheme to minimize the core power peaking with consideration given to local power-peaking factor variation. A two-dimensional nodal code used in this direct search scheme was developed for the power distribution calculations and is based on the widely used code, EPRI-NODE-P, with very good agreement obtained. This methodology has been demonstrated by considering an extended burnup three-to-four batch transition cycle analysis using Zion Unit 1 as a reference pressurized water reactor plant with realistic power-peaking constraints. The four-batch scheme can yield an increase in uranium utilization of ∼5% and a decrease in fuel cycle costs of ∼7%. The transition from a three to four-batch scheme can yield an overall increase in uranium utilization of 2.4% and a decrease in fuel cycle costs of ∼4%. The transition fuel-loading patterns optimized by DSPWR satisfy the core power-peaking constraint with a 2 to 3% margin at beginning-of-cycle.