Taiwan Power Company’s Power Distribution Analysis and Fuel Thermal Margin Verification Methods for Pressurized Water Reactors

Taiwan Power Company’s (TPC’s) power distribution analysis and fuel thermal margin verification methods for pressurized water reactors (PWRs) are examined. The TPC and the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research started a joint 5-yr project in 1989 to establish independent capabilities to perform reload design and transient analysis utilizing state-of-the-art computer programs. As part of the effort, these methods were developed to allow TPC to independently perform verifications of the local power density and departure from nucleate boiling design bases, which are required by the reload safety evaluation for the Maanshan PWR plant. The computer codes utilized were extensively validated for the intended applications. Sample calculations were performed for up to six reload cycles of the Maanshan plant, and the results were found to be quite consistent with the vendor’s calculational results.