Assessment of small modular reactor core performance using antineutrinos

对电力的需求在不断增长。在发达国家实施节能措施的同时，发展中国家正在实现工业化。为了避免气候变化，向零碳能源的过渡至关重要。为了满足当前和未来的电力需求，人们正投入大量精力开发太阳能、风能和波浪等可再生能源技术。虽然现有的水电站可靠地提供基本负荷能源，但由于天气和季节的原因，可再生能源技术本质上是间歇性的，因此为了提供足够的基本负荷电力，核电是短期内唯一可行的选择。大多数现有的核电站都很大，每个反应堆通常产生1千兆瓦或更多的热电。尽管它们有成功的运营历史，但出于安全考虑和经济障碍，近年来几乎没有建造这种规模的新车站，这些车站都不在加拿大。相反，具有增强安全功能的30+小型模块化反应堆(SMR)设计正处于不同的开发阶段。工厂建造的这些较小的反应堆的热功率大约比现有机组低一个数量级。加拿大正在通过进步的政策将自己定位为SMR技术的世界领先者，加拿大核实验室和新不伦瑞克电力公司的目标都是建设示范工厂。虽然大多数SMR设计是基于1960年代S试验的概念，但它们没有相关的运行历史，因此性能和安全分析依赖于计算机模型。此外，由于SMR设计通常具有长寿命的堆芯，因此在核电站运行期间评估燃料性能的能力非常重要。不幸的是，使用现有技术无法对燃料性能进行现场评估。在现场和整个寿命内评估反应堆堆芯性能的一种更好的方法是至关重要的。当核反应堆燃料燃烧时，所产生的裂变产物的贝塔衰变通常会导致反中微子的排放。由于它们弱相互作用的性质，以及裂变产物产额随反应堆成分(堆芯年龄和燃料类型)而变化，反中微子通过辐射屏蔽携带关于反应堆堆芯性能的信息，因此有可能在不需要关闭或打开反应堆的情况下直接评估堆芯烧毁情况。在英国之前开始的工作的基础上，这项研究计划旨在建立一个合理的计算基础，在此基础上可以预测使用反中微子进行反应堆全寿命监测。这一目标将涉及开发准确预测不同反应堆和燃料的反中微子谱的方法，包括静态和动态；通过机器学习准确预测反中微子谱烧毁的能力；以及能够定位反应堆核心特定部分或空间其他地方的反中微子排放。

The need for electricity is ever growing. Whilst developed nations implement energy conservation measures, developing nations are industrializing. To avert climate change, transition to zero-carbon power sources is essential. To satisfy current and future electricity demands, much effort is being invested in renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and wave. Whilst existing hydroelectric plants reliably supply baseload energy, renewable energy technologies are inherently intermittent due to weather and season, and hence to provide sufficient baseload electricity, nuclear power is the only viable option in the near-term. Most existing nuclear generating stations are large, each reactor often yielding a gigawatt or more of thermal power. Despite their successful operating histories, safety concerns and economic impediments have led to few new stations of this scale being built in recent years, none of which are in Canada. Instead, 30+ Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs with enhanced safety features, are in various stages of development. Factory-built, these smaller reactors have thermal powers roughly an order of magnitude lower than existing units. Canada is positioning itself to be a World leader in SMR technologies through progressive policies, with both Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and New Brunswick Power aiming to host demonstration plants. Whilst most SMR designs are based on concepts trialed in the 1960's, they have no relevant operating history and thus performance and safety analysis relies on computer models. Moreover, as SMR designs typically have long-life cores, the ability to assess fuel performance while the plant is operational is important. Unfortunately, in-situ assessment of fuel performance is not possible using existing techniques. A better way of assessing reactor core performance in-situ and through-life is essential. As nuclear reactor fuel is burned, beta decay of resultant fission products typically leads to emission of antineutrinos. Due to their weakly-interacting nature, and because fission product yields vary with reactor composition (core age and fuel type), antineutrinos carry information about reactor core performance through radiation shielding and hence potentially allow direct assessment of core burn-up without needing to shut down or open a reactor. Building on previous work started in the UK, this research program aims to establish a sound computational basis from which use of antineutrinos for through-life reactor monitoring can be predicated. This objective will involve developing methods for the accurate prediction of antineutrino spectra for different reactors and fuels, both static and dynamic; the capability to accurately predict burn up from antineutrino spectra via machine learning; and to be able to localize antineutrino emissions from specific parts of the reactor core or elsewhere in space.