About

Improving the cost competetivenss and performance of next generation of light water reactors and advanced reactors is the focus of this work. Proven commercial reactor design tools such as Studsvik package and RELAP5/TRACE are used for bulk of the modeling and simulation in this work. Other tools such as STARCCM+ CFD package and SERPENT monte-carlo code are also utilized in this work

Non-MIT Collaborators include: Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of California-Berkely, University of Michigan, Seoul National University

LWR PWR and BWR SMRs

Post-Doc: Xu Wu Student: Patrick White (PhD), Jane Reed (UROP)

This work focuses on designing more compact and cost effective PWR and BWR SMRs through combination of advanced construction, manufacturing, siting, fuel and power components.

Journal Publication: Shirvan K., Ballinger R,, Buongiorno J., Forsberg C., Kazimi M., Todreas N., "Technology Selection for Offshore Underwater Small Modular Reactors," Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Technology , vol. 48(6), Dec, 2016.

Shirvan K., Hejzlar P., and Kazimi M.S., "The Design of A Compact Integral Medium Size PWR," Nuclear Engineering and Design vol. 243, pp. 393-403, Feb 2012.

Large LWR PWR and BWR Economic Designs

Post-Doc: Wei Li, Xu Wu

This work focuses on designing a more compact and cost effective large PWR and BWR through combination of advanced construction, manufacturing, siting, fuel and power components.

Journal Publication: Gurgen, A., Shirvan, K., "Estimation of coping time in pressurized water reactors for near term accident tolerant fuel claddings," Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol 337 pp. 38-50, 2018.

Shirvan K. and M.S. Kazimi, "BWR-HD: An Optimized BWR for High Power Density," Nuclear Technology vol. 184, Number 3, Dec, 2013.

Simulation of Reduced Moderator Boiling Water Reactor

Student: Xingang Zhao (PhD)

Hitachi has proposed a LWR tight-lattice fuel design the Resource-Renewable Boiling Water Reactor (RBWR). The RBWR-AC has been designed to have a breeding ratio of slightly greater than one while maintaining a negative void coefficient. While RBWR-TB2 has been design with conversion ratio of 0.4 for efficeint burning of transuranics from LWR spent fuel. The RBWR core design is housed in the same reactor pressure vessel size and has the same power rating as the Advanced BWR (ABWR) but the two core designs are considerably different. One of the principal differences is that the RBWR has a large axial blanket region centered at the core mid-plane. The power to flow ratio in the two reactors is also different. This leads to significant differences in the axial power shape (shown in Fig. 1), as well as the boiling length, mass flux, void fraction, hydraulic diameters, assembly layout, and reactivity coefficients. The goal of our study is to to validate and verify (V&V) the safety performance of the RBWR

Journal Publication: Zhao, X., Shirvan K., Wu Y., Kazimi M., "Critical Power and Void Fraction Prediction of Tight Bundle Designs" Nuclear Technology, vol. 196(3), pp. 553-567, Dec 2016

Hino T., J. Miwa, T. Mitsuyasu, Y. Ishii, M. Ohtsuka, K. Moriya, K. Shirvan, V. Seker, A. Hall, T. Downar, P. M. Gorman, M. Fratoni and E. Greenspan, "Core Design and Analysis of Axially Heterogeneous Boiling Water Reactor for Burning Transuranium Elements," Vol. 187, Issue 3 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2017.

Organic Cooled Reactor Design

Student: None

Numerous advanced reactor concepts have been proposed to replace light water reactors ever since their establishment as the dominant technology for nuclear energy production. While most designs seek to improve cost competitiveness and safety, the implausibility of doing so with affordable materials or existing nuclear fuel infrastructure reduces the possibility of near-term deployment, especially in developing countries. We present a simple, cost-effective, and safe small modular nuclear reactor for offshore underwater deployment.

Journal Publication: Shirvan K., Forrest E., "Design of an Organic Simplified Nuclear Reactor," Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Vol. 48(4), August, 2016.

Lead-Bismuth Fast Reactor

Student: None

Light Water Reactor Small Modular Reactors (LWR SMRs) have struggled to penetrate the US and international electricity markets while solar and wind energy have experienced tremendous success. Lead Fast Reactor (LFR) technology has great potential as an alternative to LWR SMRs to be able to complement solar and wind energy to produce baseload carbon free electricity. The inherent properties of lead coolant results in high degree of safety, plant simplification and design compactness. This study focuses on thermal-hydraulic performance of a natural circulating Lead-Bismuth Eutectic (LBE) cooled reactor with passive air cooling safety system.

Journal Publication: None