Nuclear design of Helical Cruciform Fuel rods

In order to increase the power density of current and new light water reactor designs, the Helical Cruciform Fuel (HCF) rods are proposed. The HCF rods are equivalent to a cylindrical rod, with the fuel in a cruciform shaped, twisted axially. The HCF rods increase the surface area to volume ratio and inter-subchannel mixing behavior due to their cruciform and helical shapes, respectively. In a previous study, the HCF rods have shown the potential to up-rate existing PWRs by 50% and BWRs by 25%. However, HCF rods do display different neutronics modeling and performance. The cruciform cross section of HCF rods creates radially asymmetric heat generation and temperature distribution. The nominal HCF rod's beginning of life reactivity is reduced, compared to a cylindrical rod with the same fuel volume, by 500 pcm, due to increase in absorption in cladding. The rotation of these rods accounts for reactivity changes, which depends on the H/HM ratio of the pin cell. The HCF geometry shows large sensitivities to U{sup 235} or gadolinium enrichments compared to a cylindrical geometry. In addition, the gadolinium-containing HCF rods show a stronger effect on neighboring HCF rods than in case of cylindrical rods, depending on the orientation ofmore » the HCF rods. The helical geometry of the rods introduces axial shadowing of about 600 pcm, not seen in typical cylindrical rods. (authors)« less