Annual Report 2009 of the project New Type Nuclear Reactors (NETNUC) in Academy of Finland s Research Programme Sustainable Energy (SusEn)

Transcription

1 1/5 Annual Report 2009 of the project New Type Nuclear Reactors (NETNUC) in Academy of Finland s Research Programme Sustainable Energy (SusEn) Consortium partners Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) Riitta Kyrki-Rajamäki, Leader of the consortium Rainer Salomaa, Leader of the TKK project Timo Vanttola, Leader of the VTT project Support group Marja-Leena Järvinen STUK Chair Sami Hautakangas Fortum Oyj Vice chair Saila Karvinen Academy of Finland Group member Tero Varjoranta STUK Group member Keijo Valtonen STUK Group member Juha Äystö JY Group member Jorma Aurela TEM Group member Riitta Kyrki-Rajamäki LUT Group member Heikki Suikkanen LUT Secretary Research scientists LUT: Riitta Kyrki-Rajamäki, Heikki Suikkanen, Ville Rintala, Anne Jordan, Vesa Tanskanen, Mika Pikkarainen, Timo Merisaari TKK: Rainer Salomaa, Pertti Aarnio, Jarmo Ala-Heikkilä, Davit Danielyan, Tuomas Viitanen, Zivile Giedraityte, Aarno Isotalo, Lauri Rintala, Risto Vanhanen, Heidi Heikkinen, Jaakko Kuopanportti. VTT: Timo Vanttola, Pauli Juutilainen, Maria Pusa, Antti Daavittila, Petteri Kangas, Iiro Auterinen, Sami Penttilä, Aki Toivonen, Petri Kinnunen, Laura Rissanen, Stefan Holmström, Petri Kotiluoto, Seppo Vuori Abstract Access to sustainable, sufficient and economically viable energy sources, mitigation of climate change, and avoiding harmful environmental and health impacts are vital to growing world population. The new generation fission reactors can offer a remarkable contribution to this end by extending the availability of nuclear fuel resources to thousands of years. Nuclear energy causes negligible greenhouse gas and fine particulate emissions. However, strict control on safety of reactors and fuel cycle facilities as well as safe and timely nuclear waste disposal and improved proliferation resistance are prerequisites of a positive net contribution to the wellbeing of the whole society. In addition to electricity production, new applications: process heat for industrial use and hydrogen generation, are foreseen. Recycling of actinides, use of thorium as an additional fission fuel, and reduction of nuclear waste generation will improve the position of nuclear fission as a long term sustainable energy source. Increased international attention has recently been devoted to reactor concepts that differ essentially from the existing light water reactors. Basic processes of these new concepts, known as Gen IV reactors, are fundamentally different from those used today. Some new features may create new type safety challenges. They also aim to push nuclear reactor technology to completely new regimes of performance parameters, thus raising engineering challenges. In order to allow Finland to benefit from these new technologies and influence their development, it is necessary to join relevant international projects, develop domestic expertise on critical technologies involved, and participate in ongoing international efforts to develop safety requirements for them. The technical potential of Gen IV will be shown in a time span of years as the first demonstration plants are to be built. The NETNUC project is a multidisciplinary consortium of national and international partners to carry out basic research to generate scientific knowledge needed for Gen IV reactors and to educate a new generation of

2 2/5 research scientists in the field. The project is closely connected with the EU projects HPLWR2 and Raphael as well as global fora and carries out research in the following fields: integrated approach on systems and socio-economic impacts of nuclear energy taking into account the sustainability of the fuel cycle and waste management, assurance of high safety level and non-proliferation, reactor physics and dynamics calculation system to assure control of reactivity and power production as well as inherently safe properties of core in spite of new isotopes involved, modelling of core and cooling circuit thermal hydraulics, and the whole energy conversion or energy utilization process, advanced solutions for structural materials and fuel to achieve the demanding service parameters, renewing the energy source in biomass-based industries. The research work aims to contribute in the validation of the following hypotheses: Key phenomena affecting the safety of new types of reactors are understood thoroughly enabling the creation of systematic safety criteria that ensure adequate safety and security of the reactors and fuel cycle facilities (Safety). Advanced reactors and the associated fuel cycles can be developed that utilize more abundant natural isotopes and increase the effectiveness of the fuel resource usage and produce less high-level nuclear waste (Sustainability). New types of reactors can be developed in international cooperation (SCWR, VHTR, GFR, SFR) capable of producing energy effectively and economically for electricity, process heat and hydrogen yields in cogeneration processes (Efficiency). These three hypotheses are studied in sub-projects lead by LUT, TKK and VTT, respectively. They need to be tackled within multidisciplinary research areas, and the above objectives are studied in each of the subprojects from different viewpoints. Five targeted tasks and nine subtasks have been determined. Results of the research Degrees: Kangas, P., Multi-phase chemistry in Process Simulation, Licentiate thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Rissanen, L., Creep in Gen IV nuclear applications, Master s thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Viitanen, T., Implementing a Doppler-Preprocessor of Cross Section Libraries in Reactor Physics Code Serpent, Master s thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Kuopanportti, J., Radkowsky-nipun suorituskyky ja vaikutus neutroniikkaan tyypillisessä painevesireaktorissa, Bachelor s thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Refereed journal publications: Pusa, M. and Leppänen, J., Computing the Matrix Exponential in Burnup Calculations, Nuclear Science and Engineering, 164, 1-11, Will be published on April 2010 in J. of Nuclear Technology (ANS): Penttilä, S., Toivonen, A., Heikinheimo, L. and Novotny R. Corrosion Studies of Candidate Materials for European HPLWR. Refereed conference papers: Kyrki-Rajamäki, R., Salomaa, R., Vanttola, T., Suikkanen, H., Viitanen, T., Penttilä, S. and Kangas, P., The Finnish Sustainable Energy (SusEn) project on New Type Nuclear Reactors (NETNUC), 20th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT 20), Espoo, Finland, August 9-14, Puustinen, M., Räsänen, A., Laine, J., Purhonen, H., Pättikangas, T. and Timperi, A., Condensation Pool Experiments at LUT Supporting CFD and Structural Analysis Tool Development, International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT 20), Espoo, Finland, August 9-14,

3 3/5 Penttilä, S., Toivonen, A. and Heikinheimo, L., Generation IV Material Issues Case SCWR, 20th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT 20), Espoo, Finland, August 9-14, Kurki, J. and Seppälä, M., Thermal Hydraulic Transient Analysis of the High Performance Light Water Reactor Using APROS and SMABRE. 20th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT 20), Espoo, Finland, August 9-14, Penttilä, S., Toivonen, A., Heikinheimo, L. and Novotny R., SCC Properties and Oxidation Behaviour of Austenitic Alloys at Supercritical Water Conditions, 4th International Symposium on Supercritical Water-Cooled Reactors, Heidelberg, Germany, March 8-11, Leppänen, J. and Pusa, M., Burnup calculation capability in the PSG Monte Carlo reactor physics code, International Conference on Mathematics, Computational Methods and Reactor Physics (M&C 2009), Saratoga Springs, New York, USA, May 3-7, Kangas, P., Multi-phase chemistry in process simulation. Papermaking Research Symposium (PRS2009), Kuopio, Finland, June 1-4, Kangas, P., Auterinen, I. and Koukkari, P., BioNuclear - refinery - A concept for integration of nuclear heat and biorefineries, 2 nd Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference (NWBC2009), Helsinki, Finland, September 2-4, Salomaa, R., Nuclear Pre-Renaissance the Case Finland, International Conference on Nuclear Energy for New Europe 2009 (NENE09), Bled, Slovenia, September 14-17, Salomaa, R., Kyrki-Rajamäki, R. and Vanttola, T., GEN4FIN A R&D Platform for Educating Finnish Nuclear Engineers, International Conference on Nuclear Energy for New Europe 2009 (NENE09), Bled, Slovenia, September 14-17, Seminar presentations: Penttilä, S., Materials Performance at SCW conditions -GenIV Materials activity at VTT, Seminar on Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems organized by NOMAGE4, Studsvik, Sweden, October 15-16, Viitanen, T., Reactor Core Calculations with Serpent, Seminar on Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems organized by NOMAGE4, Studsvik, Sweden, October 15-16, Isotalo, A., Generation IV Activities at TKK, Seminar on Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems organized by NOMAGE4, Studsvik, Sweden, October 15-16, Rintala, V., Kuulakekoreaktorien mallinnus, GEN4FIN Seminar, Espoo, Finland, October 23, Suikkanen, H., Kaasujäähdytteisten reaktorien mallinnus, GEN4FIN Seminar, Espoo, Finland, April 3, Penttilä, S., SCC Properties and Oxidation Behaviour of Austenitic Alloys at Supercritical Water Conditions, GEN4FIN seminar, Espoo, Finland, April 3, Kyrki-Rajamäki, R., Invited speaker in the Akatemian Tiedeaamiainen organized by the Academy of Finland, December Rintala, L., Simulating supercritical water with APROS, XLIII Annual Conference of the Finnish Physical Society, Espoo, Finland, March Tulkki, V., Heat transfer to supercritical water, XLIII Annual Conference of the Finnish Physical Society, Espoo, Finland, March Vanttola, T., The Finnish Sustainable Energy (SusEn) project on New Type Nuclear Reactors (NETNUC), SusEn Seminar, Helsinki, Finland, October 6-7, Impact of the research During the year 2009 LUT participated the EU FP7 project proposal THINS (Thermal Hydraulics of Innovative Nuclear Systems). The proposal was accepted and the project launches February 1 st 2010 and lasts for 48 months. LUT participation in the project will be 8 person months. The LUT research work in THINS will be tightly linked to the current research on gas-cooled reactors carried out in NETNUC. LUT also takes part in the EU project NURISP in which condensation models for CFD codes are developed. There has been co-operation with a research group in LUT that also takes part in the SusEn programme. The co-operation mainly includes the

4 4/5 use and development of computer codes that are useful for both projects. Both LUT and TKK participate in ENEN-III CoA and they are responsible for curriculum development Gen IV nuclear engineering. A literature survey for GEN4FIN is being collected. Visits and participation in meetings: Suikkanen, H., OECD/NEA/CSNI TAREF (Task on Advanced Reactors Experimental Facilities) group meeting and the Expert Meeting on the HTTR-LOFC Project proposal, NEA headquarters, Issy-les- Moulineaux, France, September 29 October 2, Hänninen, M., Second RCM of the IAEA CRP on Heat Transfer Behaviour and Thermo-hydraulics Codes Testing for SCWRs, Wien, Austria, August 25-28, Daavittila, A., Kurki, J. and Seppälä, M., EU-HPLWR2 project progress meeting, Karlsruhe, Germany, March 4-6, Kurki, J., Seppälä M., Vanttola, T., Toivonen, A. and Penttilä, S., EU-HPLWR2 project progress meeting, August 31 September 3, 2009, Erlangen, Germany. Penttilä, S., Kuivalainen, P. and Toivonen, A., Visit at JRC-IE Petten, excursion to materials testing laboratory at JRC-IE and discussions with R. Novotny related to HPLWR continuation, June Giedraityte, Z., Visit at Forschungzentrum Jülich (fuel calculations on thorium-plutonium mixtures), August 1 October 31, Participation in international conferences, courses, and workshops: Suikkanen, H., Aarnio, P., Seventh European Commission conference on Euratom research and training in reactor systems (FISA 2009) + Post-FISA 2009 workshops, , Prague, Czech Republic. Rissanen, L., 2nd International ECCC Conference, Creep & Fracture in High Temperature Components Design & Life Assessment, Dübendorf, Switzerland, April 21-23, Juutilainen, P., ERANOS workshop, Aix-en-Provence, France, October 19-21, Suikkanen, H., Modelling and Computation of Multiphase Flows, Zurich, Switzerland, Juutilainen, P., Joliot-Hahn Summer School on Reactor Physics, Karlsruhe, Germany, Juutilainen, P., ERANOS Training Course, Cadarache, France, October 13-16, Progress of the research Gas-cooled reactor research In LUT the research on high-temperature gas-cooled reactors has continued. The Serpent reactor physics code developed in VTT has been taken into use for reactor core analyses. A code capable of modelling the packing and flow of fuel spheres inside a pebble-bed reactor core is being developed at LUT. Combined thermal hydraulics, reactor physics and fuel element packing and flow analyses are expected to give a highly detailed and extensive understanding of the pebble-bed type reactor core. Materials performance at supercritical water (SCW) conditions The oxidation behaviour of candidate materials has been studied using both in-situ and ex-situ methods and applying backward calculation to model materials oxide structure and composition. Theory, modelling and experimental work together can provide the proper approach to material issues in SCW environment. The next step is to adopt the backward calculation procedure based on mixed conduction model to kinetic and transport parameters for long-term experiments in order to test the ability of the proposed approach to predict much thicker oxide layer compositions. SCC susceptibility for selected candidate materials has been studied at 500 C and 650 C in SCW. In the study of creep behaviour of austenitic stainless steels in supercritical water the objective was to provide the necessary background information through a state-of-the-art literature survey and experimental work on the effects of creep on potential Gen IV nuclear applications especially on supercritical water reactor. The main objectives also include material selection issues, material modelling and some testing equipment development. The literature survey covers all six Gen IV reactor systems. The experimental part is focusing on materials behaviour in supercritical water reactor environment. Time to rupture modelling of creep for data retrieved from

5 5/5 materials standards was performed for tested materials. Modelling exercises were also performed to evaluate the primary strain rates. Reference data for further studies was produced. Nuclear heat applications At TKK a review on CHP applications has been performed. At VTT, the feasibility of combining rigorous multiphase chemistry with APROS has been reported in licentiate thesis. A promising concept was developed but the calculation speed is not fast enough for efficient use. A preliminary study of utilizing heat from nuclear power plant in nearby bio-refineries was conducted. First results showed that bio-refineries could use several hundreds of megawatts of nuclear heat to produce bio-based chemicals and fuels. Nuclear heat could substitute biomassbased heat, and increase the yield of bio-products. Couple of possible bio-refinery cases will be selected. The utilization of nuclear heat in these cases will be evaluated; including implications of using a (very) hightemperature reactor as the heat source. Reactor physics and thermal-hydraulics In the field of reactor physics, the burnup calculation method of the SERPENT code has been developed further and the solution method of the burnup equations has been studied. In order to create the capability of fast reactor analysis at VTT, the ERANOS computer code and its applications has been familiarized with during a visit to CEA Cadarache France. The work on these codes will be continued. The development of TRAB-3D/SMABRE and APROS computer codes for supercritical water applications has been successfully continued. This has been done in connection to the EU HPLWR2 project and the IAEA research project Heat Transfer Behaviour and Thermo-hydraulics Codes Testing for SCWRs. The EU HPLWR2 project will end in the end of February 2010, before which the results of the calculated cases will be finalized and reported. After this VTT will be one of the partners in writing a proposal for the next phase to the EU. This phase will consist of building and analyzing a supercritical water test loop to the LVR-15 research reactor in Czech Republic. Studies on heat transfer in SCWR tubes with APROS and their benchmarking have continued at TKK. Several extensions of the Serpent code and its applications to Gen IV problems have been performed. A major addition was the implementation of a built-in Doppler-broadening routine that allows cross sections to be adjusted to a higher temperature. The original simplified TTA methodology was extended to account for problems related to closed transmutation chains. Calculations using Radkowsky-type thorium fuel bundles in LWR core were done and their applicability assessed. At LUT the numerical and experimental work on the BWR condensation pool test facility PPOOLEX is linked to SCWR research as the SCWR reactor concept uses condensation pools as well. Recent work on the PPOOLEX facility was presented at the SMiRT20 conference. Industrial co-operation In EU level the co-operation has continued this year with industry within the EC research projects HPLWR Phase2, GETMAT and NURISP. VTT and LUT are also members in the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP) which aims at coordinating Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment (RDD&D) in the field of nuclear fission energy. It gathers stakeholders from industry (technology suppliers, utilities and other users), research organisations including Technical Safety Organisations (TSO), universities and national representatives. VTT has started Nordic co-operation on GEN IV field NOMAGE4 network funded by NKS and participating industrial companies and other partners (from Finland VTT, TVO, Fortum and FinNuclear). The kick-off meeting was in January 2009 in Stockholm. The co-ordinator is Studsvik company from Sweden with Vattenfall, Westinghouse, Outokumpu and E.ON are the other Swedish partners. Halden IFE and Riso DTU are representing Norway and Denmark in the Network, respectively. The Network will be linked to NETNUC activities. The national Finnish network GEN4FIN has continued its operation; the results of NETNUC and EC projects are disseminated also through GEN4FIN seminars to the Finnish industry.