商用压水堆核燃料研发进展与应用展望

Research and Development Progress and Application Prospect of Nuclear Fuels for Commercial Pressurized Water Reactors

压水堆(PWR)是目前核电厂反应堆的主力堆型,而核燃料是反应堆的能量源泉和放射性裂变物质的主要来源,关乎核电厂的经济性和安全性。本文对当前国际上面向商用PWR应用研发的掺杂UO_(2)燃料、高铀密度燃料、微封装燃料和金属燃料的性能特点、技术状态及前景进行了归纳和评价。在掺杂UO_(2)燃料中,大晶粒燃料具有较高的技术成熟度,将在PWR实现大规模商用;高铀密度燃料和金属燃料在高温水腐蚀氧化问题以及事故下的行为仍待研究解决;具有极致安全的微封装燃料更适合特殊用途的小型反应堆。应协同开展先进燃料组件设计、建立设计准则以及研发高保真的性能分析技术等,以充分发挥新型燃料的可靠性及高燃耗优势。

Pressurized water reactor(PWR)is the main reactor type of nuclear power plant at present,and nuclear fuel is the energy source of reactor and the main source of fission products,which is related to the economy and safety of nuclear power plant.This paper summarizes and evaluates the performance characteristics,technical status and prospects of doped UO_(2) fuel,high density fuel,micro-capsulated fuel and metal fuel currently developed for commercial PWR applications.Among these fuels,the large grain fuel has high technology maturity and is expected to be commercially available in PWR in the near future;the corrosion and oxidation of high density fuel and metal fuel in high temperature water and the behavior under accidents still need to be studied and solved;micro-encapsulated fuel with extremely safety is more suitable for small reactors for special purposes.Research and development of advanced fuel assemblies,design criteria and high fidelity performance analysis technology shall be carried out in coordination to maximize the reliability and high burnup advantages of new fuels.