Development of a new efficient method using genetic algorithm for increasing of fuel rod life time

Highlights: • Fuel rod design parameters are optimized according to the constraints and standard safety requirements. • GA is used for optimization. • Results show that by optimization, the fuel life time is increased by 12%. In an effort to increase fuel burn-up and a high level of reliability for the reactor safety, this article is focused on the optimization of fuel rod design parameters such as plenum length, gap thickness, cladding thickness, and fuel rod internal pressure using the Genetic Algorithm ( GA). During the optimization process, the fuel rod design parameters are optimized according to the constraints and standard safety requirements. To increase fuel efficiency with the aim of achieving a high level of fuel burn-up and safety, a developed method was used to optimize the design parameters of the Vandellos II fuel rod. The computational results show that by optimizing the fuel rod design parameters, the fuel burn-up is increased by 12% compared to the original values while the reactor safety margin is improved by 7%. The applied method is expected to be used to review and revise fuel rod design to improve fuel performance and reactor safety.