Modular pebble-bed reactor reforming plant design for process heat

This report describes a preliminary design study of a Modular Pebble-Bed Reactor System Reforming (MPB-R) Plant. The system uses one pressure vessel for the reactor and a second pressure vessel for the components, i.e., reformer, steam generator and coolant circulator. The two vessels are connected by coaxial pipes in an arrangement known as the side-by-side (SBS). The goal of the study is to gain an understanding of this particular system and to identify any technical issues that must be resolved for its application to a modular reformer plant. The basic conditions for the MPB-R were selected in common with those of the current study of the MRS-R in-line prismatic fuel concept, specifically, the module core power of 250 MWt, average core power density of 4.1 w/cc, low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel with a /sup 235/U content of 20% homogeneously mixed with thorium, and a target burnup of 80,000 MWD/MT. Study results include the pebble-bed core neutronics and thermal-hydraulic calculations. Core characteristics for both the once-through-then-out (OTTO) and recirculation of fuel sphere refueling schemes were developed. The plant heat balance was calculated with 55% of core power allotted to the reformer.