Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Green Technology and Sustainable Development, 2014

A COMPARATIVE COMPUTATIONAL STUDY ON FUEL BURN UP

AND RADIONUCLIDE INVENTORY OF THE VVR-M2 HEU AND LEU
NUCLEAR FUELS
Nguyen Hoang Hai1,a, Do Quang Binh2,b
1 Centre for Research and Development of Radiation Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2 University of Technical Education Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
a
hoanghai2607@yahoo.com; bbinhdq@hcmute.edu.vn

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a computational investigation on the fuel burn up characteristics and radionuclide inventory
of the VVR-M2 HEU and LEU fuels. Calculations are done by the multigroup neutron transport theory code
WIMSD along with the 69 energy group 1986 library. The results show the infinitive multiplication factors
with different grades of fuel burn up. For the aspect of transmutation assessment, the amounts of 235U and 238U
consumed as well as 239Pu produced are considered. The total activities of radionuclides in the fuels as a function
of burn up fraction and cooling time are also estimated.
Keywords: VVR-M2 HEU, VVR-M2 LEU, fuel burn up, radionuclides, WIMSD.

1.

INTRODUCTION

recent years, many works relating to the

problem of fuel conversion from HEU to
LEU fuels have been carried out as part of
Reduced Enrichment for Research and
Training Reactors program (RERTR).
Before studying the whole core conversion,
it is essential to evaluate its fuel assembly
properties for HEU and LEU fuels. With
this objective, this report presents fuel
conversion results for VVR-M2 nuclear
fuel assembly. Among various nuclear fuel
assembly features, this work only focuses
on the fuel burn up characteristics.
In

The VVR-M2 fuel (figure 1), designed and

manufactured in Russia, was being operated
in Vietnam, Hungary and Ukraine [2]. Each
fuel assembly consists of three coaxial fuel
elements: the outermost hexagonal shaped
tube with the flat-to-flat distance of 32 mm
and two inner cylindrical tubes with the
thickness of 2.5 mm. Each fuel element
includes three layers: the fuel meat and two
aluminum cladding layers. The main
differences between VVR-M2 HEU and
LEU fuels are summarized in Table 1.

Figure 1. Cross-sectional view

of VVR-M2 nuclear fuel [1]
Table 1. The key specifications of VVR-M2
HEU and LEU fuel assemblies
Parameter

VVR-M2
HEU

VVR-M2
LEU

Fuel Composition

UAl

UO2-Al

Enrichment

36 %

19.75 %

40.2 g

49.7 g

Fuel meat thickness

0.7 mm

0.94 mm

Fuel cladding thickness

0.9 mm

0.78 mm

235

474

U mass

Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Green Technology and Sustainable Development, 2014

2.

METHODOLOGY

3.

WIMSD code [3] along with the 1986

WIMS Nuclear Data Library [4] is applied
for burn up calculations. With this library,
the multi groups neutron transport
equations are solved with the 69 energy
groups. For few groups calculation, 69
groups are collapsed into three groups with
the upper energy boundaries 10 MeV, 5530
eV and 0.22 eV. The pin cell model with
annular geometry and the discrete ordinates
method (DSN) [5] are used for lattice cell
calculation. For this model, the outermost
hexagonal shaped fuel element of the fuel
assembly is converted into annulus with the
volume conservation.

3.1. The infinitive multiplication factor

The infinitive multiplication factor k is
defined as the ratio of number of neutrons
in one generation and number of neutron in
preceding generation in the infinitive
medium. This factor characterizes the
ability of neutron generating of nuclear
fuel. In this section, the infinitive
multiplication factors are investigated with
burn up fractions for VVR-M2 HEU and
LEU fuels (figure 2). The infinitive
multiplication factors for the fresh VVRM2 HEU and LEU fuels are 1.650122 and
1.642999, respectively. The infinitive
multiplication factors decrease with the
increased burn up grades due to the fuel
consumption and fission products poison.
Figure 2 shows that at the low burn up
grades, the infinitive multiplication factors
are approximately similar for these fuel
types and at higher burn up ones, the
relative differences between these fuels
increase with burn up fraction.

The operational data of Dalat Nuclear

Research Reactor, where VVR-M2 nuclear
fuel is being operated, is used for burn up
calculations. Therefore, the ratios of power
in MW to the amount of heavy fuel in ton,
required for WIMSD input, of VVR-M2
HEU and LEU fuels are 44.77478 and
22.32497, respectively. In this research,
burn up characteristics are investigated as
a function of burn up fraction. The burn up
fraction is needed to convert into burn up
time which is required for WIMSD input.
The following calculations are done for
this convert.

1.70

m5
100
m5

k in f

1.60

1.45
1.40
1.35

(1)

m5
BU
123 P

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

Burn up (%)

Figure 2. The infinitive multiplication factor

of VVR-M2 HEU and LEU fuels

3.2. The change of 235U, 238U and

densities with burn up fraction

(2)

Therefore, the relation of the burn up time

and the burn up fraction is expressed:
T=

1.55
1.50

The amount of 235U m5 (g) consumed can

be approximated by the reactor power P
(MW) and time T (day):

m5 = 1.23PT

HEU fuel
LEU fuel

1.65

The burn up fraction BU (%) is defined as

the ratio of the amount of 235U consumed
m5 (g) to the initial amount of 235U m5 (g):
BU (%) =

RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION

239

Pu

Another important feature of fuel burn up

relates to the transmutation aspect. This
aspect can be evaluated through the amount
of the fuel (235U and 238U) consumed and
fissile material (239Pu) produced.

(3)

The changes of 235U, 238U and 239Pu densities

with burn up fractions for VVR-M2 HEU

475

Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Green Technology and Sustainable Development, 2014
A tom d ensity (A tom s/b .cm )

and LEU fuels are presented in figures 3, 4

and 5, respectively. Because of the higher
enrichment of 235U in HEU fuel, the density
of 235U is higher and of 238U is lower than it
in LEU fuel. The density of 239Pu of LEU
fuel is greater than it of HEU fuel due to the
238
U transmutation. It can be realized that
while the 238U densities of these fuels
decrease slightly, the 235U densities decrease
faster. However, the difference between
densities of 235U for HEU and LEU fuels
becomes smaller when the burn up fraction
increases. Moreover, this difference is
contrary in the case of 239Pu.

4.0E-05
3.5E-05
3.0E-05
2.5E-05
2.0E-05
1.5E-05
1.0E-05
5.0E-06
0.0E+00
0

Figure 5. The change of 239Pu density with the

burn up fraction
Table 2. The amount of 235U and 238U
consumed and 239Pu produced at burn up
fraction of 50%

Atom density (Atoms/b.cm)

6.0E-04
4.0E-04
2.0E-04
0.0E+00
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Burn up (%)

S p ecific a ctivity (C i/cm 3 )

Figure 3. The change of 235U density with the

burn up fraction
A to m d en sity (A to m s/b .cm )

19.696

24.045

1.255

2.901

Pu

0.622

1.419

238

The radioactivity of spent nuclear fuel is

extremely important for radiation safety
analysis in the case of nuclear accident
when radionuclides might be released into
environment. In this section, the specific
activities (Ci/cm3) for all nuclides of
WIMSD library are investigated as the
function of burn up grades and cooling time
for VVR-M2 HEU and LEU fuels. The
results are shown in figure 6 and 7.

8.0E-04

HEU fuel
LEU fuel

LEU fuel

3.3. The radioactivity with burn up

fraction and cooling time

1.0E-03

5.0E-03
4.5E-03
4.0E-03
3.5E-03
3.0E-03
2.5E-03
2.0E-03
1.5E-03
1.0E-03

HEU fuel

235

239

Quantity (g)

Isotope

HEU fuel
LEU fuel

1.2E-03

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Burn up (%)

Table 2 shows the amount of 239Pu produced

in a fuel assembly for HEU and LEU fuels
as a result of the consumption of 235U and
238
U at the burn up fraction of 50%. For the
transmutation aspect, the ratio of amount of
the fissionable isotope (239Pu) produced and
the fissile isotope (235U) consumed is higher
in the case of LEU fuel.
1.4E-03

HEU fuel
LEU fuel

BU = 10%
BU = 20%
BU = 30%
BU = 40%
BU = 50%

12
10
8
6
4
2
0

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Burn up (%)

Figure 4. The change of 238U density with the

burn up fraction

20

40
60
Cooling time (days)

80

Figure 6. The specific activity

of VVR-M2 HEU spent fuel

476

100

Specific A ctivity (C i/cm )

Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Green Technology and Sustainable Development, 2014

4.

BU = 10%
BU = 20%
BU = 30%
BU = 40%
BU = 50%

14
12
10

In this research, the WIMSD code with

1986 WIMS Nuclear Data Library and
the discrete ordinates method are applied
successfully to investigate fuel burn up
characteristics for VVR-M2 HEU and LEU
fuels.
Some
following
important
conclusions can be drawn:
- To compare the ability of neutron
generating of these fuels, the infinitive
multiplication factors with increased burn
up grades are presented. The result shows
that at the low burn up fractions, the
infinitive multiplication factors of VVRM2 HEU and LEU fuels are approximately
similar and at the higher burn up ones, the
relative differences between these values
increase with burn up grade.
- In addition, for transmutation aspect, the
amounts of 235U and 238U consumed and
239
Pu produced of a VVR-M2 HEU and
LEU fuel assemblies at the burn up fraction
of 50% are calculated. It can be recognized
that the ratio of amount of the fissionable
isotope (239Pu) produced and the fissile
isotope (235U) consumed is higher in the
case of LEU fuel.
- Finally, the initial specific activities with
different grades of burn up range from 8.7
Ci/cm3 to 11.4 Ci/cm3 for VVR-M2 HEU
and range from 9.9 Ci/cm3 to 12.8 Ci/cm3
for VVR-M2 LEU fuel. The activities
decrease rapidly within 20 days after
shutdown and slowly after this time.

8
6
4
2
0
0

20

40

60

80

CONCLUSION

100

Cooling time (days)

Figure 7. The specific activity

of VVR-M2 LEU spent fuel

In general, the specific activity decreases

with the increased cooling time but
increases with increased burn up fraction.
The activity decreases quickly within 20
days after shutdown due to the decay of
short lived radioisotopes and gradually
afterward. In addition, the relative decrease
of activity due to the increased cooling
time becomes smaller when burn up
fraction increases. This means that the
higher burn up spent fuel needs more
cooling time than the lower ones.
In the case of HEU fuel, the initial specific
activities with different grades of fuel burn
up range from 8.7 Ci/cm3 (BU = 10%) to
11.4 Ci/cm3 (BU = 50%). The activities
decrease averagely 1.5, 3 and 10 times with
the days after shutdown of 1, 10 and 100,
respectively. The initial specific activities
of a LEU fuel assembly range from 9.9
Ci/cm3 (BU = 10%) to 12.8 Ci/cm3 (BU =
50%). In this case, the activities decrease
approximately 1.4, 4 and 11 times with the
day after shutdown of 1, 10 and 100.

REFERENCES
[1]

B. V. Luong, V. V. Le, T. N. Huynh, K. C. Nguyen, Transient/Accident Analyses for

Full Core Conversion from HEU to LEU Fuel of the Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor,
32nd International Meeting on Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors,
Lisbon, Portugal, 2010.

[2]

I. T. Tretiyakov, S. A. Sokolov, V. I. Trushkin, R. P. Kuatbekov, O. A. Kravtsova, S. V.

Osipovich, K. A. Nikel, A. V. Goryachikh, Project Development for Promising Pooltype Research Reactors, Transactions of European Research Reactor Conference 2013,
pp. 34-39, 2013.

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Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Green Technology and Sustainable Development, 2014

[3]

AEA Technol, WIMSD A Neutronics Code for Standard Lattice Physics Analysis,
ANSWERS Software Service, 1997.

[4]

M. J. Halsall, C. J. Taubman, The 1986 WIMS Nuclear Data Library, AEEW-R 2133,
AEE Winfrith, 1986.

[5]

G. I. Bell, Nuclear Reactor Theory, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, USA, 1970.

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