Perturbation Theory in Nuclear Fuel Management Optimization

Perturbation theory along with a binary fuel shuffling technique is applied to predict the effects of various core configurations and, hence, the optimization of in-core fuel management. The computer code FULMNT has been developed to shuffle the fuel assemblies in search of the lowest possible power peaking factor. An iteration approach is used in the search routine. A two-group diffusion theory method is used to obtain the power distribution for the iterations.A comparison of the results of this method with other methods shows that this approach can save computer time and obtain better power peaking factors. The code also has a burnup capability that can be used to check power peaking throughout the core life.