OPTIMIZATION FEASIBILITY STUDY ON DUKOVANY VVER-440 LONG FUEL CYCLES WITH INNOVATIVE FUEL TYPES
22nd Symposium of AER on VVER Reactor Physics and Reactor Safety (2012, Průhonice, Czech Republic)
CORE DESIGN, OPERATION AND FUEL MANAGEMENT
Abstract
One of the aims of the reactor physics group of SKODA JS, a.s. company is to develop a new
advanced optimization code called ATHENA. The code was presented last year and has
already been used for VVER type nuclear reactor fuel loading pattern of optimization but has
more general abilities. With this code an analysis of long cycles in VVER-440 reactor with
new Gd-2M based fuel was performed, using innovative Gd-2M+ and Gd-2X fuel, which are
currently under development by TVEL company as advanced fuel for VVER-440 reactors.
Optimization has allowed us not only to find long cycles, but also to evaluate the
effectiveness of new fuel types and to estimate options and feasibility of long cycles and
number of necessary fresh fuel assemblies.