Vol 124, No 4 (2018)

The history of the development and adoption of erbium fuel in RBMK is described. Research performed at the end of the 1980s – beginning of 1990s led to the conclusion that the optimal method of decreasing the steam coefficient of reactivity in RBMK is to add a consumable absorber – erbium. Computational and experimental work on the safety validation of the new fuel made it possible to adopt this fuel first in RBMK-1500 and then in RBMK-1000. The use of uranium-erbium fuel in RBMK made it possible to increase reactor safety, provide the requisite conditions for modernizing control rods, reduce the acuteness of the problem of storing spent fuel, and improve the economic indices of the fuel cycle. Considering the heightened interest in the use of erbium as a consumable absorber in VVER and some other reactors, the experience gained in developing and operating uranium-erbium fuel for RBMK could be helpful.

The basic approaches used in the SAFR/V1 module of the integral code EVKLID/V2 to simulate the movement of the melt formed upon melting of fuel elements are presented. The system of mass, energy, and momentum conservation equations used to simulate the movement of melt is presented. Special attention is devoted to methods of numerical approximation of the equations as well as to the solution of problems involving smearing of the solution at the melt boundary. The realized methods of stimulating the motion of melt have been verified on the basis of tests with known analytical solutions.

The possibility and expediency of using nuclear rocket motors at the present stage of development of rocketspace technology as part of conventional and advanced space means, including the upper stages of carrier rockets and acceleration blocks, reusable interorbital tugs, and a motor assembly of the piloted Martian expedition complex are discussed. It is shown that because of high cost it is not expedient to use NRM in single-use booster blocks and multi-use tugs for transport operations in near-Earth space, since the specific cost of delivering a useful load into high working orbits increases by a factor of 1.5 or more as compared with transport means based on oxygen-hydrogen rocket motors. At the same time, their use for the Martian expedition complex makes it possible to improve considerably the design characteristics of the complex (starting mass and expedition duration) as compared with non-nuclear motor systems.

A problem in operating NPP with VVER is that waste solutions containing ethanolamine and ammonia from regeneration of ion-exchange filters from the second loop must be processed. The amount of ammonia in the regeneration solutions is equal to 85% of the total amount of the contaminating substances. The water chemistry regime of the second loop without ammonia or with ammonia replaced by dimethylamine is examined. It is shown that the use of dimethylamine makes it possible to increase the duration of the filtration cycle for ion-exchange filters of the purification systems, decrease the concentration of products of corrosion, reduce the environmental impact, and simplify the waste water purification technology.

The structure of models and a description of the AEROSOL-LM/Na module, which is intended for simulating the transport and behavior of impurities sodium coolant and fission product aerosols in a normal operating regime of a reactor and in beyond design basis accidents, are presented. The characteristic features of the module are: accounting for the basic behavior of dissolved impurities in the sodium coolant, simulation of the dynamics of multi-component and polydisperse aerosols in the gas cavity of the first loop of the reactor, functional coupling with other modules of the code (thermal hydraulic and fuel), and simulation of the behavior of fission products as a function of the running state of the reactor installation.

An economics-mathematical model for performing analytical calculations of the present value of separative work for uranium isotopes in a separation plant currently being designed using gas centrifuge technology is examined. Analytical expressions are obtained for the present value of the separative work, the internal rate of return, and the payback period of the separation plant as a function of its main engineering and economics parameters – productivity (capacity), capital investment, and operating expenses. Calculations of these criteria for investment efficiency are presented for a wide range of initial data. It is shown that the calculation of the present value of separative work must be performed in a complex with other investment efficiency criteria in order to determine their optimal combination.