Improved Core Design of the Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor CSR1000

The SCWR (Supercritical water-cooled reactor) is one of the Generation IV reactor concepts. The economic performance of the SCWR has a core focus, and in this study forms one of the key design goals. Based on the technology of ABWR and PWR, a conceptual design of CSR1000 (China Supercritical water-cooled Reactor with the rated electric power of 1000 MWe) core was proposed with features such as single water rod, combined square fuel assembly (FA),two flow-pass of coolant in core, high-leakage reload core with 157 FAs, burn-up of 350 EFPD. The refueling cycle of the CSR1000 design was about 12-months, which is much shorter than the generation 3 PWR of 18-months. Thus, it is necessary to enhance the economic performance of CSR1000 by prolonging the refueling cycle. Based on conceptual design of the CSR1000, the FA and the core design are improved for prolonging the refueling cycle of CSR1000. This paper represents an important reference and technical reserve for further SCWR core design study