Neutronic & Dynamic Analysis of TMSR-500 Reactor Core
Alessandro Widjati (a,1), Sidik Permana (b,1,2,3), Syeilendra Pramuditya (1,2,3), Cici Wulandari (1,2,3)

1) Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science,
Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung 40132 Indonesia
2) Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science,
Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung 40132 Indonesia
3) Nuclear Physics and Biophysics Research Group, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science,
Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung 40132 Indonesia
a) alswidjati[at]gmail.com
b) psidik[at]fi.itb.ac.id

Abstract

TMSR-500 designed by ThorCon is a generation IV nuclear reactor. This reactor has potential to provide energy that are sustainable, safe, and low in CO2 emissions. Therefore, study about TMSR-500 will have a significant impact on the development of nuclear energy. Neutronic and dynamic analysis will be conducted in this study. For neutronic analysis, influence of reactor design parameters against neutronic aspects will be evaluated. The design parameters evaluated are fuel composition, fuel volume fraction, coolant quantity, and material temperature, while the neutronic aspects are effective multiplication factor (keff). For dynamic analysis, response of thermal power, fuel salt temperature, and graphite temperature to positive reactivity insertion will be evaluated. The method used to obtain the neutronic aspects of the reactor is neutronic calculation by computer simulation using the SRAC2006 code system and the JENDL-4.0 nuclear library. While to obtain the dynamic response, dynamic calculation is performed by solving the reactor point kinetics equation and the reactor heat transfer equation numerically. The study shows that the concentration of fissile material is directly proportional to keff. The fuel volume fraction will be inversely proportional to the keff at the beginning of operation. TMSR-500 requires a minimum U-235 concentration of 1.28% with an optimal fuel volume fraction of 27%. TMSR-500 has a negative coolant nuclide density and temperature reactivity coefficient, while also has a good safety response to positive step reactivity insertion in the 50 pcm to 500 pcm range because the temperature of the materials in those dynamic conditions are still within a safe range.

Keywords: coolant, dynamic, fuel composition, fuel volume fraction, material temperature, neutronic, reactivity insertion, TMSR

Topic: Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems