Neutronic analysis of nanofluid as a coolant in HPLWR fuel assembly

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to predict the neutronic behavior of nanofluids as a coolant in the fuel assembly of the HPLWR. The high-performance light water reactor (HPLWR) is the European version of the supercritical-pressure water cooled reactor (SCWR). Light water reactor at supercritical pressure which is currently under the design, is considered as a new generation of nuclear reactors. The variations of neutron cross sections and effective multiplication factor have been investigated in different concentrations of nanoparticles in the coolant and moderator channel. In the present analysis, water-based nanofluids containing various volume fractions of Al2O3, TiO2, CuO and Cu nanoparticles are studied. The neutronic properties of nanofluids with the optimum concentration of nanoparticles are calculated using WIMS-D5 and CITATION-LDI2 codes. The results show that at low concentrations of less than 1 volume percentage, alumina is the optimum nanoparticle for the normal operation of a reactor.

Keywords

• nanofluid
• neutronic analysis
• hplwr
• wims code
• citation code