Development of NUFREQ-N, an analytical model for the stability analysis of nuclear coupled density-wave oscillations in boiling water nuclear reactors

A state-of-the-art one-dimensional thermal-hydraulic model has been developed to be used for the linear analysis of nuclear-coupled density-wave oscillations in a boiling water nuclear reactor (BWR). The model accounts for phasic slip, distributed spacers, subcooled boiling, space/time-dependent power distributions and distributed heated wall dynamics. In addition to a parallel channel stability analysis, a detailed model was derived for the BWR loop analysis of both the natural and forced circulation modes of operation. In its final form, this model constitutes a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) linear system, which features a general nodal neutron kinetics model. Kinetics parameters for use in the kinetics model have been obtained by utilizing self-consistent nodal data and power distributions. The stability characteristics of a typical BWR/4 has been investigated with the Nyquist criterion. The computer implementation of this mode, NUFREQ-N, was used for the parametric study of a typical BWR/4 and comparison were made with existing in-core and out-of-core data. Also, NUFREQ-N was used to analyze the expected stability characteristics of a typical BWR/4. The parametric results revealed important factors influencing BWR stability margin. It was found that NUFREQ-N generally agreed well with out-of-core data. This was especially true for the predicted power-to-flow transfer function, which is the most important transfer function in thermal-hydraulic stability analysis