Investigation on lateral dispersion characteristics of fuel particles in dense phase zone of a large-scale circulating fluidized bed boiler under combustion conditions

The dispersion characteristics of fuel particles in the dense phase zone in circulating fluidized bed(CFB)boilers have an important influence on bed temperature distribution and pollutant emissions.However,previous research in literature was mostly on small-scale apparatus,whose results could not be applied directly to large-scale CFB with multiple dispersion sources.To help solve this problem,we proposed a novel method to estimate the lateral dispersion coefficient(Dx)of fuel particles under partial coal cut-off condition in a 35o MW supercritical CFB boiler based on combustion and dispersion models.Meanwhile,we carried out experiments to obtain the Dx in the range of 0.1218-0.1406 m2/s.Numerical simulations were performed and the influence of operating conditions and furnace structure on fuel dispersion characteristics was investigated,the simulation value of Dx was validated against experimental data.Results revealed that the distribution of bed temperature caused by the fuel dispersion was mainly formed by char combustion.Because of the presence of intermediate water-cooled partition wall,the mixing and dispersion of fuel and bed material particles between the left and right sides of the furnace were hindered,increasing the non-uniformity of the bed temperature near furnace front wall.

Experimental Study on the Effect of Bed Material Amount and Fuel Particle Size on Load Change of Circulating Fluidized Bed

The large-scale integration of new energy generation has put forward higher requirements for the peak-shaving capability of thermal power.The circulating fluidized bed(CFB)depends on the advantages of a wide load adjustment range and low cost of pollutant control to become a good peak shaving power supply.However,the large delay and inertia caused by its unique combustion mode make it very difficult to change the load quickly.To further understand the factors that affect the load change of CFB,and explore the method of increasing CFB load change rate,the load change experiment on the combustion side was carried out in the 0.1 MW CFB experiment platform.The influence law of bed material amount and fuel particle size on load change of CFB combustion side was revealed for the first time.The results indicated that the increase of bed material amount was beneficial to improve the load change rate on the combustion side of CFB and reduce the carbon content of fly ash,but had no obvious effect on NO_(x)emission.When the bed height at rest increased from 200 mm to 400 mm,the load change rate of the CFB combustion side load from 50%to 75%increased from 0.78%/min to 1.14%/min,and the carbon content of fly ash at 75%load decreased from 26.6%to 24.9%.In addition,the reduction of fuel particle size positively improved the load change rate on the combustion side of the CFB and reduced NO_(x)emission but had a negative effect on reducing the carbon content of fly ash.When the fuel particle size decreased from 0-1 mm to 0-0.12 mm,the load change rate of CFB combustion side load from 50%to 75%increased from 0.78%/min to 1.09%/min,and the NO_(x)emission and carbon content of fly ash at 75%load decreased from 349.5 mg/m^(3)to 194.1 mg/m^(3)and increased from 26.6%to 31.8%,respectively.

A review of TRISO-coated particle nuclear fuel performance models

The success of high temperature gas cooled reactor depends upon the safety and quality of the coated particle fuel. The understanding and evaluation of this fuel requires the development of an integrated mechanistic fuel performance model that fully describes the mechanical and physicochemical behavior of the fuel particle under irradiation. In this paper, a review of the analytical capability of some of the existing computer codes for coated particle fuel was performed. These existing models and codes include FZJ model, JAERI model, Stress3 model, ATLAS model, PARFUME model and TIMCOAT model. The theoretic model, methodology, calculation parameters and benchmark of these codes were classified. Based on the failure mechanism of coated particle, the advantage and limits of the models were compared and discussed. The calculated results of the coated particles for China HTR-10 by using some existing code are shown. Finally, problems and challenges in fuel performance modeling were listed.

Preparation of the highly dense ceramic-metal fuel particle with fine-grained tungsten layer by chemical vapor deposition for the application in nuclear thermal propulsion

The cermet fuel element was achieved by dispersing the UO_(2)particles with or without tungsten(W)coating layer uniformly in the W matrix.It is considered to be a robust and secure fuel for use in nuclear thermal propulsion in the near future.In this study,the effect of deposition temperature on the densification and grain refinement of the W coating layer was investigated.A high-density(19.24 g·cm^(-3))W layer with a uniform thickness(~10μm)and fine grains(~297 nm)was prepared by spouted-bed chemical vapor deposition.The prepared high-density,fine-grained W layer has the following advantages.It can prevent direct contact between fuel particles,resulting in a more uniform fuel distribution.In addition,it can decrease the reaction probability between the fuel kernel and H2,and prevent the release of fission products from the fuel kernel by extending the diffusion path at grain boundaries more efficiently.Moreover,the high-density,fine-grained W layer showed outstanding thermal and mechanical performance.Its average hardness and Young's modulus were approximately 7 and 200 GPa,respectively.The thermal conductivity of the W film was 101-124 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1)at 298-773 K.This work furthers our understanding of the potential application of the high-density,fine-grained W layer in nuclear thermal propulsion.

Denoising method of X-ray phase contrast DR image for TRISO-coated fuel particles

TRISO （tristructural-isotropic） fuel is a type of micro fuel particles used in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors （HTGRs）. Among the quality evaluation methods for such particles, inqine phase contrast imaging technique （PCI） is more feasible for nondestructive measurement. Due to imaging hardware limitations, high noise level is a distinct feature of PCI images, and as a result, the dimensional measurement accuracy of TRISO-coated fuel particles decreases. Therefore, we propose an improved denoising hybrid model named as NL P-M model which introduces non-local theory and retains the merits of the Perona-Malik （P-M） model. The improved model is applied to numerical simulation and practical PCI images. Quanti- tative analysis proves that this new anisotropic diffusion model can preserve edge or texture information effectively, while ruling out noise and distinctly decreasing staircasing artifacts. Especially during the process of coating layer thickness measurement, the NL P-M model makes it easy to obtain continuous contours without noisy points or fake contour segments, thus enhancing the measurement accuracy. To address calculation complexity, a graphic processing unit （GPU） is adopted to realize the acceleration of the NL P-M denoising.

Research on the Silicon Carbide Layer of Coated Fuel Particles

The 10MW high temperature gas-cooled test reactor (HTR-10) under construction at INET uses whole ceramic fuel elements. The main barrier which prevents fission product release is the SiC layer of the coated fuel particles. Fabrication of high quality SiC layers is one of the key R&D tasks for the HTR-10 fuel element. The SiClayer was deposited on the fuel particles in a 50 mm conical fluidized bed using the CVD (chemical vapour deposition) technique. The density, thickness, strength and elastic modulus of the SiC layer were measured. The microstructure was observed using SEM (scanning electron microscope ). Parameters were established for manufacturing the SiC layer of the coated fuel particles to be used in the HTR-10. It was found that the traditional density measurement by the sink-float method is questionable in the low density region and that the SiC layer may be contaminated by uranium under certain conditions.

Irradiation Testing of Coated Particle Fuel at HANARO

TRISO （Tri-structural iso-tropic）-coated particle fuel is being developed to support the development of a VHTR （very high temperature reactor） in Korea. From August 2013, the first irradiation testing of coated particle fuel was begun to demonstrate and qualify TRISO fuel for use in the VHTR in HANARO （high-flux advanced neutron application reactor） at KAERI （Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute）. This experiment is currently undergoing under an atmosphere of a mixed inert gas without on-line temperature monitoring and control combined with on-line fission product monitoring of the sweep gas. The irradiation device contains two test rods, one contains nine fuel compacts and the other five compacts and eight graphite specimens. Each compact has 263 coated particles. After a peak bum-up of about 4% and a peak fast neutron fluence of about 1.7 × 1021 n/cm2, PIE （post irradiation examination） will be carried out at KAERI＇s irradiated material examination facility. This paper describes the characteristics of coated particle fuels, and the design of the test rod and irradiation device for the coated particle fuels, and discusses the technical results of irradiation testing at HANARO.

Manufacture of HTR Fuel Element

The HTR Fuel Element R & D Program,set in 1987,aims to develop the manufacturetechnology of HTR fuel element and to produce the fuel element for the first core of our 10MW experimental reactor.Now the work on laboratory scale is phased out.In this paper,the fuel element manufacture technology is described and the test results are given.

A novel coated-particle design and fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition preparation method for fuel-element identification in a nuclear reactor

Particle coating is an important method that can be used to expand particle-technology applications. Coated-particle design and preparation for nuclear fuel-element trajectory tracing were focused on in this paper. Particles that contain elemental cobalt were selected because of the characteristic gamma ray spectra of 60Co. A novel particle-structure design was proposed by coating particles that contain elemental cobalt with a high-density silicon-carbide （SiC） layer. During the coating process with the high-density SiC layer, cobalt metal was formed and diffused towards the coating, so an inner SiC–CoxSi layer was designed and obtained by fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition coupled with in-situ chemical reaction. The coating layers were studied by X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy techniques. The chemical composition was also determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The novel particle design can reduce the formation of metallic cobalt and prevent cobalt diffusion in the coating process, which can maintain safety in a nuclear reactor for an extended period. The experimental results also validated that coated particles maintain their structural integrity at extremely high temperatures （～1950 °C）, which meets the requirements of next-generation nuclear reactors.