A Reactivity Evaluation of Hypothetical Misloadings for WEC 3-Loop Type Plant

This study is designed to confirm the adverse effects caused by fuel misloading for a domestic WEC 3-loop type plant reflecting the recent operation condition. An evaluation of the core criticality for some severe cases of fuel misloading is involved in this study. With results of the evaluation, it can be estimated roughly how safety limits for refueling which are specified in plant Technical Specifications are effective even in any hypothetical severe misloading cases. This paper contains the quantitative study for loss of shutdown margin and inadvertent criticality caused by such a hypothetical multiple fuel misloading which would arise during refueling operation. The study was attained by core calculations for some misloaded configurations realized to make fresh fuel assemblies placed together in the center of the core. In the conclusion, this study can help understanding the consequences of hypothetical multiple misloading fuel and can be utilized as a reference case study.