Progress of the DUPIC Fuel Compatibility Analysis - II: Thermal Hydraulics

Thermal-hydraulic compatibility of the DUPIC fuel bundle with a 713-MW(electric) Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU-6) reactor was studied by using both the single-channel and subchannel analysis methods. The single-channel analysis provides the fuel channel flow rate, pressure drop, critical channel power, and the channel exit quality, which are assessed against the thermal-hydraulic design requirements of the CANDU-6 reactor. The single-channel analysis by the NUCIRC code showed that the thermal-hydraulic performance of the DUPIC fuel is not different from that of the standard CANDU fuel. Regarding the local flow characteristics, the subchannel analysis also showed that the uncertainty of the critical channel power calculation for the DUPIC fuel channel is very small. As a result, both the single- and subchannel analyses showed that the key thermal-hydraulic parameters of the DUPIC fuel channel do not deteriorate compared with the standard CANDU fuel channel.