Title: Neutronic comparative analysis between DOE and CEA model designs for fourth generation 2400 MW-th gas cooled fast reactor

Authors: Amr Ibrahim

Addresses: High Institute for Engineering and Technology at Obour, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract: With the recent development of a worldwide effort to pursue a fourth generation (GEN-IV) advanced reactors, interest in finding an efficient model design of the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) has resurfaced over the last two decades. Primary participants in GFR technology development are the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) in France. The primary focus of the present research is to use MCNPX code to perform a comparative analysis between two proposed designs of the fourth generation 2400 MW-th GFR, one proposed by DOE and the other by CEA. This comparative analysis presents an insight view into the design characteristics of GFR fuel assembly and can lead to a better understanding of the performance of the GFR concept in general. The CEA model was found to have better neutronic performance regarding reactivity swing during fuel burnup cycle.

Keywords: fast reactors; CEA; DOE; GFR; MCNPX; GEN-IV.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNEST.2023.136780

International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, 2023 Vol.16 No.4, pp.241 - 259

Received: 09 Jun 2023
Accepted: 13 Oct 2023
Published online: 21 Feb 2024 *

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