Fuel pin thermal performance

Abstract

Fast reactor design requires the simultaneous application of mechanical and thermal-hydraulics analysis methods. We reviewed some aspects of mechanical analysis in Chapter 8; we will discuss mechanical design further in Chapter 12. Chapters 9 and 10 will deal with thermal-hydraulics analysis. In the present chapter we will investigate methods of determining temperature distributions within fuel pins. We will then extend these methods to assembly and core-wide temperature distributions in Chapter 10. While the actual analysis of fuel pin thermal performance depends strongly on the material, the mathematics and concepts associated with determining temperature distributions within fuel pins is essentially independent of the material in a fast reactor. Throughout this chapter, the discussions of correlations and closure relationships necessary to complete the mathematical analyses, and to introduce important concepts, are generally based on oxide fuel with notes where other fuel types show different behavior.