Small Nuclear Reactors for the Production of Nuclear Medicine Radioisotopes and for Co-Generation

用于生产核医学放射性同位素和热电联产的小型核反应堆

• 批准号: DDG-2015-00047
• 负责人: Bonin, Hugues
• 金额: $ 0.73万
• 依托单位: Royal Military College of Canada
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Development Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=612448
• 关键词: Small; Nuclear; Reactors; Production; Medicine

The research project aims at developing two distinct small inherently safe nuclear reactors: the SNB25 district heating and co-generation reactor and the Homogeneous SLOWPOKE reactor.  Both reactors are simulated with the deterministic code WIMS-AECL and the probabilistic (Monte Carlo) code MCNP 5, with the results of both simulations agreeing very well. The SNB25 reactor is based on the TRISO fuel particles with an enrichment of 20% and produces 25 MW of heat by means of water at 95oC that is sent for heating the various buildings of a Canadian Forces base in the Arctic, such as the proposed base at Nanisivik, Nunavut.  This energy can also be supplied to a Rankine cycle-based system to produce electricity with a 16% efficiency.  Previous work has demonstrated the inherent safety characteristics of the concept and the 12-year minimum core life of the reactor, which indeed represents an important asset for applications in areas with harsh weather conditions such as in the Arctic.  The proposed work here aims at improving the computer modelling of the reactor and at designing a more efficient heat transport system and the electricity production system via an improved Rankine cycle.  The other nuclear reactor considered in the proposed project is the Homogeneous SLOWPOKE reactor, based on the successful SLOWPOKE-2 research reactor.  The Homogeneous SLOWPOKE reactor has a double mission: to replace the existing SLOWPOKE-2 research reactors at the end of their core service life and continue their research/teaching mission, and to produce radioisotopes used in several applications including important ones in nuclear medicine.  Like the SLOWPOKE-2 reactor, the Homogeneous reactor produces 20 kW of heat and has been proven as inherently safe in previous work.  The enrichment of the uranium fuel is kept to a maximum of 20% to comply with the Non Proliferation Treaty.  The fuel is an homogeneous aqueous solution of uranyl sulfate (UO2SO4) with a molality determined as 1.46 mol kg-1 for a Zircaloy-2 reactor vessel.  This pool-type nuclear reactor has an operating moderator-coolant temperature of 40oC and simulation work of the reactor in transient states has shown that the worst scenarios result in peak temperatures and power of 83oC and 546 kW, respectively. Further development work proposed for this research project includes replacing the 2-D WIMS-AECL simulation code with a 3-D deterministic software, developing a simulation code accounting for the movement of the fuel within the reactor core (coupling of neutronics and thermal-hydraulics codes), and modelling the behaviour within the reactor core of saturating fission products such as 135Xe .

本研究计划旨在发展两种不同的小型本质安全核反应堆：SNB 25区域供热和热电联产反应堆和均质慢波堆，用确定性程序WIMS-AECL和概率（Monte Carlo）程序MCNP 5对这两种反应堆进行了模拟，两种模拟的结果吻合得很好。SNB-25反应堆以浓缩度为20%的TRISO燃料颗粒为基础，通过95 ℃的水产生25兆瓦的热量，用于加热加拿大军队在北极的基地的各种建筑物，例如拟议中的纳尼西维克基地，这种能量也可以提供给一个基于朗肯循环的系统，以产生16%的电力。以前的工作已经证明了概念的固有安全特性和反应堆12年的最低堆芯寿命，这确实是一个重要的资产，应用在恶劣的天气条件下，如在北极地区。这里提出的工作旨在改善计算机建模，反应堆，并通过改进的朗肯循环设计更有效的传热系统和发电系统。拟议项目中考虑的另一个核反应堆是均质SLOWPOKE反应堆，它是在成功的SLOWPOKE-2研究反应堆的基础上设计的。均质SLOWPOKE反应堆具有双重使命：在现有的SLOWPOKE-2研究堆的核心服务寿命结束时更换它们，并继续它们的研究/教学使命，以及生产用于多种应用的放射性同位素，包括核医学中的重要应用。与SLOWPOKE-2反应堆一样，均质反应堆产生20千瓦的热量，在以前的工作中已被证明是固有安全的。铀燃料的浓缩度最高保持在20%燃料是硫酸铀酰（UO 2SO 4）的均匀水溶液，锆-2反应堆容器的摩尔浓度确定为1.46 mol kg-1。该池-型核反应堆的运行慢化剂冷却剂温度为40 oC，反应堆瞬态模拟工作表明，最坏情况下的峰值温度和功率分别为83 oC和546 kW。为该研究项目提出的进一步开发工作包括用三维确定性软件取代二维WIMS-AECL模拟代码，开发一个考虑反应堆堆芯内燃料运动的模拟代码（耦合中子学和热工水力学代码），以及模拟反应堆堆芯内饱和裂变产物（如135氚）的行为。