NEM 445 Exam 1

December 1, 2010

You have 2 hours to finish the exam.

Clearly write down all the assumptions you make.
The figures and constants you would need are given.
1) (10) Please name the Generations (II, III or III+) of the listed designs: VVER1200, Babcock&Wilcox PWR, CE System 80+, ESBWR, APR-1400,
AP1000,VVER-1000, EPR, ABWR, GE designed BWR/6.
2) (10) List 10 design features of an AP1000 design.
3) (20) A utility is considering changing its fuel vendor and resulting fuel assembly
design. The current fuel in the reactor is standard Westinghouse 17x17 fuel with a
fuel rod pitch of 0.496- inches and a fuel rod OD of 0.374-inches. The clad
thickness is 0.0225-inches. The new fuel design has a fuel rod pitch of 0.503inches and a fuel rod OD of 0.360-inches with a clad thickness of 0.0225-inches.
(Assume that there is no fuel-cladding gap, and cladding is a 1/V absorber)
Considering that the fuels for both designs have U235 number density of 7.12 x
1020 nuclei/cm3, and the coolant density of 44.77 lbm/ft3:
Calculate the fission cross-sections for each lattice design

Which design has the greater fission cross-section, why

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of decreasing pitch to
diameter ratio for a unit PWR cell.

4) (20) A heavy water moderated, heterogeneous reactor has the pellet diameter of
0.4 in. The fuel rod diameter is 0.45 in. and the average thermal neutron flux is
1.5x1013 neuts/cm2-s. The number density for U235 is 7.0 x 1020 nuclei/cm3 and
moderator temperature is 500 oF. For this reactor, calculate the average volumetric
heat generation rate and average fuel rod surface heat flux.
Constants and Reminders (Questions 4 and 5): the conversion factor used for
volumetric heat generation rate from Mev/sec-cm3 to BTU/hr-ft3 is 1.5477 x 10-8. 1
kW is 3412 Btu/hr. The fission cross section for U235 fuel at room temperature is
570 barns. The 1/V correction factor is 2 (0.8862). For U235, 1/(1 + ) is 0.851.
5) (25) Consider a reheat cycle utilizing steam as the working fluid. Steam leaves
the boiler and enters the turbine at 870.2 psi, saturated. The mass flow rate of
steam leaving the boiler is 5960x103 lbm/hr. After leaving the boiler, 80% of the
flow is sent to high pressure turbine, and rest of the steam is sent to reheater. Once
the 80% of flow is expanded to 33.6 psi in turbine, it is sent to reheater and then
to the low pressure turbine. Flow expands to 1.45 psi at the exit of the low
pressure turbine. The system is sketched below. Draw a T-s diagram for this
cycle. Determine the cycle efficiency. If someone tells you that the efficiency of
this cycle can be increased up to 57%, would you believe to this?

P = 870.2 psia: Tsat = 527.98 oF, hf = 521.79 Btu/lbm, hfg = 675.54 Btu/lbm,
hg = 1197.33 Btu/lbm, sf = 0.7231 Btu/lbm- oF, sfg = 0.6839 Btu/lbm- oF,
= 1.4070 Btu/lbm- oF, f = 0.0211 ft3/lbm

sg

P = 33.6 psia: Tsat = 256.89 oF, hf = 225.59 Btu/lbm, hfg = 940.76 Btu/lbm,
= 1166.35 Btu/lbm, sf = 0.3775 Btu/lbm- oF, sfg = 1.3129 Btu/lbm- oF,
1.69 Btu/lbm- oF, f = 0.0171 ft3/lbm

hg
sg =

P = 1.45 psia: Tsat = 114.49 oF, hf = 82.46 Btu/lbm, hfg = 1028.78 Btu/lbm,
= 1111.25 Btu/lbm, sf = 0.1551 Btu/lbm- oF, sfg = 1.7918 Btu/lbm- oF,
1.9469 Btu/lbm- oF

hg
sg =

Constants and Reminders: Joules equivalent = 778.16 ft-lbf//Btu, gc = 32.17

lbm ft/lbf s2, sfg = sg - sf, 1 ft = 12.0 in.
6) (15) Briefly answer below questions:
a. List the effects of adding lowering the heat generation rate and moisture
separation on the Rankine cycle efficiency.
b. Compare the reactivity control mechanisms of PWR and BWR designs
c. Sketch the thermal and fast neutron fluxes in an array of fuel and
moderator channels.