Multi-cycle Boiling Water Reactor Fuel Cycle Optimization

In this work a new computer code, BWROPT (Boiling Water Reactor Optimization), is presented. BWROPT uses the Parallel Simulated Annealing (PSA) algorithm to solve the out-of-core optimization problem coupled with an in-core optimization that determines the optimum fuel loading pattern. However it uses a Haling power profile for the depletion instead of optimizing the operating strategy. The result of this optimization is the optimum new fuel inventory and the core loading pattern for the first cycle considered in the optimization. Several changes were made to the optimization algorithm with respect to other nuclear fuel cycle optimization codes that use PSA. Instead of using constant sampling probabilities for the solution perturbation types throughout the optimization as is usually done in PSA optimizations the sampling probabilities are varied to get a better solution and/or decrease runtime. The new fuel types available for use can be sorted into an array based on any number of parameters so that each parameter can be incremented or decremented, which allows for more precise fuel type selection compared to random sampling. Also, the results are sorted by the new fuel inventory of the first cycle for ease of comparing alternative solutions. (authors)