Full scale demonstration of thermal margin of AHWR and development of AHWR-critical power correlation

Theoretically, there is no limit to the power which can be generated in a nuclear reactor core. Practical limit however exists due to the ability to carry away the heat generated and the related phenomenon is termed as the Critical Heat Flux (CHF). The margin available against the CHF is known as thermal margin. The AHWR-CPC correlation was found to predict the CHF within ±8%. The exact nature of the correlation is not revealed due to its proprietary nature. A statistical analysis of correlation data indicates minimum required thermal margin of 1.15 for AHWR-CPC. The experiments established that adequate thermal margin exists in the AHWR design. This is the first time that such rod bundle CHF experiments have been conducted in India under reactor conditions