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New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry
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New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "B4: Nuclear Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (9 February 2024) | Viewed by 10836

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jingen Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Interests: reactor core physics; nuclear fuel cycle; nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics; nuclear data; reactor multi-physics coupling; neutron source technology
Dr. Jianhui Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Interests: nuclear reactor physics; core design of advanced nuclear reactor; nuclear fuel cycle
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sutanto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Polytechnic Institute of Nuclear Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) of Indonesia, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
Interests: reactor safety and control; supercritical water-cooled reactor safety analysis; radiation protection; application of 3D virtual reality in nuclear reactor simulation
Dr. Yong Cui

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Interests: neutron physics; core design of molten salt reactor; numerical method for reactor simulation; multiscale multi-physics coupling method of novel reactor; Th-U fuel cycle

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue “New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry” aims to present and disseminate the latest advances and novel technologies in the existing and advanced nuclear energy systems.

Nuclear energy is one kind of green energy resource characterized by its extremely high energy density, low Green-house Gas (GHG) emission and high reliability. Under the condition of ~1% nuclear fuel utilization (current commercial nuclear power level), the mass producing per unit nuclear energy is 3~4 orders lower than that of fossil fuels. The GHG emission from nuclear energy is only around 0.008 kg CO2/kWh by taking into account all the processes of nuclear fuel cycle. The capacity factor of nuclear power plants achieves around 80%, much higher than that of solar and wind (10%~25%). In view of these advantages, nuclear energy has been taken as an important approach to realize carbon neutrality in many countries, such as China, the USA, France, etc.

Nuclear power generation can be dated back to 1957 and has experienced three phases: Gen-I, Gen-II and Gen-III nuclear reactor systems. In the wake of the Gen-IV advanced nuclear reactor systems being proposed in 2002, the nuclear energy industry has been advancing toward two categories: evolutionary reactors and revolutionary reactors. Evolutionary reactors incorporate incremental technical improvements to the existing proven designs. Currently emerging advanced water cooled reactors such as Advanced Passive Pressurized Water Reactor (AP1000), Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) are sorts of evolutionary reactors. Revolutionary reactors have a radical departure from the designs of current nuclear industry and would incorporate promising techniques for improved performances, although these techniques have not been adequately tested or verified yet. They commonly indicate Gen-IV reactors, which are expected to realize commercial application after 2030. With the growing demand on the exploration of ocean/space and off-grid electricity supply for the remote areas, micro nuclear reactors (power capacity up to 20 MWe) and small modular nuclear reactors (power capacity up to 300 MWe) have also attracted growing attentions worldwide. In parallel with the progresses in nuclear reactor concept, many novel and advanced technologies in material, automatic control and computing science have been continuously introduced to nuclear industry, which significantly promoted the development of nuclear industry. Reviewing and presenting these latest advances in the nuclear industry would provide a valuable reference for the scholars involving related researches.

In this special issue, the potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Advanced concepts of micro-, small modular and large commercial nuclear power plant;
  • Computing codes development, validation and application;
  • Advanced algorithm and computing technologies applications in nuclear energy;
  • Modular design and construction techniques for nuclear power plants;
  • Nuclear reactor physics, thermal hydraulics and reactivity control in advanced nuclear energy systems;
  • Advanced U-Pu and Th-U nuclear fuel cycle;
  • New radiation shielding material, design and optimization;
  • Novel technologies in reactor construction, operation and reactivity control.

Dr. Jingen Chen
Dr. Jianhui Wu
Dr. Sutanto
Dr. Yong Cui
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nuclear energy
  • nuclear fuel cycle
  • nuclear reactor physics
  • neutron physics
  • reactor thermal-hydraulics
  • nuclear waste management
  • nuclear calculation code
  • micro nuclear reactor
  • modular nuclear reactor
  • GEN-IV reactor
  • machine learning
  • nuclear safety
  • radiation shielding
  • nuclear control
  • nuclear materials
  • nuclear data

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4223 KiB  
Article
Uncertainty Quantification of Engineering Parameters for a Nuclear Reactor Loaded with Dispersed Fuel Particles
by Yukun Li, Zhenping Chen, Chao Yang, Guocai Huang, Kekun Gao, Aikou Sun, Chengwei Liu and Zhiqiang Wu
Energies 2024, 17(10), 2245; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17102245 - 7 May 2024
Viewed by 923
Abstract
Owing to their high intrinsic safety, dispersed fuel particles are an important fuel pattern for fourth-generation nuclear reactors. Due to the unique cladding layers and the random dispersion characteristics, dispersed fuel particles significantly differ from pressurized water reactors regarding operation-induced uncertainty. This study [...] Read more.
Owing to their high intrinsic safety, dispersed fuel particles are an important fuel pattern for fourth-generation nuclear reactors. Due to the unique cladding layers and the random dispersion characteristics, dispersed fuel particles significantly differ from pressurized water reactors regarding operation-induced uncertainty. This study quantitatively analyzed overall uncertainty while considering a random distribution of dispersed fuel particles, material thickness, and fuel enrichment. The results demonstrated that, for all packing fractions, the uncertainty induced by the random dispersion of dispersed fuel particles was below 0.03%. For every packing fraction, the differences between the results obtained by the regular and the random distribution models increased, and then decreased, until reaching its maximum (1.297%) at 15%. Keff decreased as the radius of the UO2 kernel increased; Keff increased as the thickness of the cladding layer increased; the uncertainty of Keff was 1.003% when a random distribution of particles, material thickness, and fuel enrichment were taken into consideration; the uncertainty of the power distribution of reactor core assemblies was maximized (1.495%) at the edge of the reactor core. Quantitative analysis of uncertainty provides references for the optimization of design and safety margin analysis for reactors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry)
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13 pages, 4115 KiB  
Article
Research on the Measurement Method of the Prompt Neutron Decay Constant Based on LHS-DMD-Rossi-Alpha
by Junguang Li, Jinsen Xie, Nianbiao Deng, Erpin Zhang, Zhiqiang Wu, Ji Tong and Tao Yu
Energies 2024, 17(9), 2034; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17092034 - 25 Apr 2024
Viewed by 872
Abstract
In response to the significant dependency on empirical judgment in measuring the prompt neutron decay constant with the traditional Rossi-alpha method and the issue of requiring an excessive number of detectors with the DMD-Rossi-alpha method, this paper introduces a calculation method for the [...] Read more.
In response to the significant dependency on empirical judgment in measuring the prompt neutron decay constant with the traditional Rossi-alpha method and the issue of requiring an excessive number of detectors with the DMD-Rossi-alpha method, this paper introduces a calculation method for the prompt neutron decay constant based on a combination of Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS), Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD), and the Rossi-alpha method. Initially, the method uses LHS to expand the sample dataset of neutron noise data to reduce the number of detectors required. It then employs the Rossi-alpha method to construct a Rossi-alpha distribution model from neutron noise data. Finally, it utilizes DMD for feature extraction from the Rossi-alpha distribution model, thereby determining the prompt neutron decay constant. Research findings demonstrate that, by simulating the KUCA facility using RMC3.5 in a near-critical state, the relative error of the α value calculated by the LHS-DMD-Rossi-alpha method model is 9% less than that calculated by the Rossi-alpha method. This approach, capable of enhancing the precision of measuring the prompt neutron decay constant with just a single detector, holds significant theoretical value and engineering significance for the advancement of reactor physics and experimental techniques. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry)
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14 pages, 4280 KiB  
Article
Research on Initiating Events Analysis of Small Helium-Xenon Gas Cooled Nuclear Reactor
by Jun Zhou, Jianhui Wu, Yong Cui, Hongkai Zhao, Chunyan Zou and Jingen Chen
Energies 2023, 16(19), 6769; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16196769 - 22 Sep 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1359
Abstract
Initiating event analysis is an essential prerequisite of conducting probabilistic safety assessment for nuclear reactors, which plays an important role in improving the core design, identifying fault, and guiding operation. In order to determine the initiating event list of SIMONS (Small Innovative helium-xenon [...] Read more.
Initiating event analysis is an essential prerequisite of conducting probabilistic safety assessment for nuclear reactors, which plays an important role in improving the core design, identifying fault, and guiding operation. In order to determine the initiating event list of SIMONS (Small Innovative helium-xenon cooled Mobile Nuclear power System), preliminary researches on the initial event of SIMONS were carried out using the MLD (Main Logic Diagram) analysis method and referring to the initial event list and initial event analysis theory of other nuclear reactors such as HTGR (High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor), MSR (Molten Salt Reactor), and PWR (Pressurized water reactor). With employing these methods, a total of 31 initial events are identified for SIMONS based on its latest conceptual design. These initial events are then divided into six groups according to the accident types, which are core heat removal increase, core heat removal decrease, abnormal reactivity and power distribution, pipeline crevasse and equipment leakage, anticipated transients without scram, and disasters (internal and external). The obtained results can provide a theoretical basis for the further safety analysis of SIMONS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry)
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15 pages, 7009 KiB  
Article
Coupled Monte Carlo and Thermal-Hydraulics Modeling for the Three-Dimensional Steady-State Analysis of the Xi’an Pulsed Reactor
by Duoyu Jiang, Peng Xu, Tianliang Hu, Xinbiao Jiang, Lipeng Wang, Da Li, Xinyi Zhang and Lu Cao
Energies 2023, 16(16), 6046; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166046 - 18 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1338
Abstract
The Xi’an Pulsed Reactor (XAPR) is characterized by its small core size and integrated fuel moderator structure, which results in a non-uniform core power and temperature distribution. Consequently, a complex coupling relationship exists between its core neutronics and thermal hydraulics, necessitating the assurance [...] Read more.
The Xi’an Pulsed Reactor (XAPR) is characterized by its small core size and integrated fuel moderator structure, which results in a non-uniform core power and temperature distribution. Consequently, a complex coupling relationship exists between its core neutronics and thermal hydraulics, necessitating the assurance for the operational safety of the XAPR. To optimize the experimental scheme in the reactor, a refined three-dimensional steady-state nuclear-thermal coupling analysis is imperative. This study focuses on investigating the coupling calculation of a three-dimensional steady-state neutronics and thermal-hydraulics model for the XAPR by utilizing an open-source multi-physical coupling framework known as Cardinal. The neutron transport equation is effectively solved using OpenMC, while a three-dimensional heat conduction model is employed to compute the heat conduction of the fuel elements. Furthermore, a parallel multi-channel model is utilized to determine the fluid heat transfer. The research is centered on the XAPR, whereby Monte Carlo and thermal-hydraulics coupling calculations of the core under steady-state full-power conditions are conducted, specifically at an operational capacity of 2 MW. The results demonstrate a strong agreement between the simulation and experimental outcomes. The maximum temperature recorded for the thermometric fuel element in the XAPR is 795.1 K, with a deviation of approximately −5.7% from the measured value. Moreover, the outlet fluid temperature of the thermal channel is observed to be 360 K, exhibiting a deviation of around −2.7% from the measured value. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry)
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18 pages, 5295 KiB  
Article
Preliminary Design and Study of a Small Modular Chlorine Salt Fast Reactor Cooled by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
by Minyu Peng, Yafen Liu, Yang Zou and Ye Dai
Energies 2023, 16(13), 4862; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16134862 - 21 Jun 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2099
Abstract
Small modular reactors with power below 300 MW have the advantages of small specific mass, long lifetime, and flexible power supply, and they are suitable for providing power support for small and medium-sized towns with small populations and remote areas without grid coverage. [...] Read more.
Small modular reactors with power below 300 MW have the advantages of small specific mass, long lifetime, and flexible power supply, and they are suitable for providing power support for small and medium-sized towns with small populations and remote areas without grid coverage. In this paper, a small modular S-CO2-cooled molten salt reactor is proposed, and the design of a 10 MW small modular chlorine salt fast reactor (sm-MCFR) with 20 years of operation without refueling is presented. The neutron feasibility of the S-CO2-cooled small modular chlorine fast reactor is analyzed in terms of neutron energy spectrum, reactivity control, temperature reactivity coefficient, and power distribution. A distinctive feature of the sm-MCFR is the use of chlorine salts with high heavy metal solubility and a hard energy spectrum, allowing the core size to be minimized while maintaining the maximum lifetime. The designed core is about 2.44 m in diameter and 2.24 m in height. Meanwhile, the sm-MCFR uses control drum control as the control system, which can effectively achieve reactivity control without increasing the reactor size. The final optimized sm-MCFR has a negative temperature reactivity coefficient, which is necessary to ensure the safe operation of the reactor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry)
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17 pages, 4148 KiB  
Article
Fault Diagnosis of Nuclear Power Plant Based on Sparrow Search Algorithm Optimized CNN-LSTM Neural Network
by Chunyuan Zhang, Pengyu Chen, Fangling Jiang, Jinsen Xie and Tao Yu
Energies 2023, 16(6), 2934; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062934 - 22 Mar 2023
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 2770
Abstract
Nuclear power is a type of clean and green energy; however, there is a risk of radioactive material leakage when accidents occur. When radioactive material leaks from nuclear power plants, it has a great impact on the environment and personnel safety. In order [...] Read more.
Nuclear power is a type of clean and green energy; however, there is a risk of radioactive material leakage when accidents occur. When radioactive material leaks from nuclear power plants, it has a great impact on the environment and personnel safety. In order to enhance the safety of nuclear power plants and support the operator’s decisions under accidental circumstances, this paper proposes a fault diagnosis method for nuclear power plants based on the sparrow search algorithm (SSA) optimized by the CNN-LSTM network. Firstly, the convolutional neural network (CNN) was used to extract features from the data before they were then combined with the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network to process time series data and form a CNN-LSTM model. Some of the parameters in the LSTM neural network need to be manually tuned based on experience, and the settings of these parameters have a great impact on the overall model results. Therefore, this paper selected the sparrow search algorithm with a strong search capability and fast convergence to automatically search for the hand-tuned parameters in the CNN-LSTM model, and finally obtain the SSA-CNN-LSTM model. This model can classify the types of accidents that occur in nuclear power plants to reduce the nuclear safety hazards caused by human error. The experimental data are from a personal computer transient analyzer (PCTRAN). The results show that the classification accuracy of the SSA-CNN-LSTM model for the nuclear power plant fault classification problem is as high as 98.24%, which is 4.80% and 3.14% higher compared with the LSTM neural network and CNN-LSTM model, respectively. The superiority of the sparrow search algorithm for optimizing model parameters and the feasibility and accuracy of the SSA-CNN-LSTM model for nuclear power plant fault diagnosis were verified. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances and Novel Technologies in the Nuclear Industry)
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