Advanced fuel design thermal margin

Advanced fuel design entails a complicated process of trade-off actions which impact critical power margin, neutron efficiency, fuel cycle cost and dynamic behavior. The implementation of many utility objectives requires the expenditure of critical power margin. A basic natural BWR behavioral characteristic is that the critical power capability of a fuel design and its two phase pressure drop are directly correlatable parameters. The resulting optimum design is dependent upon the environment and priorities of each individual utility. As the technology matures, it is expected that utilities will play an increasingly active role in setting these trade-off priorities. (author) 9 figs