Evaluation for Application of Fuel Power Control Test in HANARO

The interest in the safety of nuclear fuel has increased due to the Fukushima accident so that the accident tolerant fuel (ATF) has been actively developed. The candidate research method to evaluate the in-core performance of fuel is the utilization of research reactor, which has the advantage of simulating normal operating or accident condition of nuclear power plant. In Korea, although HANARO has been used to conduct the in-core performance test of fuel, the fission power of the test fuel during the irradiation could not be intentionally controlled, and it was only dependent on the change of the core variation such as the height of control absorber rod (CAR) and the depletion of HANARO fuel. In this study, the evaluation results for the test method that can control the fission power of test fuel during the irradiation were described to apply in HANARO. There are several methods in the research reactor that can change the fuel power during the irradiation test, such as reactor power control, moving the position of test fuel and the utilization of neutron absorber like He-3. Halden reactor can conduct the test with the control of fuel power by moving fuel position and the utilization of He-3. Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR), which is currently under construction, will prepare a facility called ADELINE and plan to use the method of inserting and withdrawing the test fuel into the core. Therefore, the control method of fuel power is different for each reactor so that it is necessary to evaluate which method should be applied considering the HANARO characteristics. If the control of fuel power is possible in HANARO, it will be possible to carry out the dynamic safety research, the study of load following behavior and various basic studies.