Numerical simulation of supercritical water coolant flow in a GEN IV nuclear reactor by porous media approach

Canadian GEN IV Super Critical Water Reactor (Canadian-SCWR) is a combination version of conventional CANDU reactor with the using super critical water as coolant. Thermal-hydraulic analysis of a nuclear reactor is done to ensure that reactor will work in its safety margins. In this study, thermal hydraulic analysis of Canadian-SCWR is conducted by numerically solving of conservation equations by a porous media approach. The latest concept of Canadian-SCWR core was used for this purpose. In this concept, in each fuel bundles, super critical water flows in two pass and low pressure and low temperature heavy water moderator flows around fuel channel in the Calandria vessel, separately. Average axial temperature, density, heat capacity, pressure and velocity of supercritical water was estimated in two regions of fuel channels (two pass) i.e centeral flow tubes and the fuel rods channel. Compared to the literature, there is a good agreement between our results and the reported results.

Keywords:

Canadian-SCWR , Porous media approach , thermal-hydraulic analysis , supercritical water coolant