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Shutdown Margin – SDM

Shutdown margin, SDM, defines the safe subcritical condition. Shutdown margin is the instantaneous amount of reactivity by which a reactor is subcritical or would be subcritical from its present condition assuming all control rods are fully inserted except for the single rod with the highest integral worth (so-called stuck control rod), which is assumed to be fully withdrawn.

However, with all control rods verified fully inserted by two independent means, it is unnecessary to account for a stuck rod in the SDM calculation. With any control rod not capable of being fully inserted, the reactivity worth of all control rods must be accounted for in the determination of SDM. SDM is usually defined for PWRs as well as for BWRs.

A shutdown margin is required to exist at all times, even when the reactor is critical. Let’s assume the SDM is 2%. The reactor can either be critical or safe subcritical (keff < 0.98). Subcriticality of about 0.99 with all rods inserted is not a safe subcritical condition.

During power operation, SDM is ensured by operating with the shutdown banks fully withdrawn and the control banks within the so-called “rod insertion limits” specified in the technical specifications. Suppose the operator wants to shut down the reactor from Hot Full Power – equilibrium xenon to Hot Zero Power – with xenon, for example, in the case of reactor SCRAM. In that case, he must insert negative reactivity to compensate for the power defect. If the power defect for PWRs is about 2500 pcm (about 4 βeff), the control rods must weigh more than 2500 pcm to achieve the subcritical condition. A shutdown margin in the range of one to five percent reactivity is typically required. Therefore to ensure the safe subcritical condition, the control rods must weigh more than 2500 pcm plus the value of SDM. The total weight of control rods is design specific value, but, for example, it may reach about 6000 to 9000 pcm.

When the reactor is in the shutdown and refueling modes, the SDM requirements are met by means of adjustments to the boron concentration.

 
Iodine Pit – Response to Reactor Shutdown
See also: Iodine Pit

The most spectacular and well-known phenomenon associated with xenon 135 is the behavior of a reactor after a reactor shutdown. Recall the proportion of 135I (6.6h) and 135Xe (9.2) half-lives is very important and determines these transients, especially those with power reduction, where the xenon buildup rate is higher than xenon decay.

Consider the reactor shutdown from 100% to zero. Consider the reactor that is operated at 100% for a long time (i.e., iodine and xenon equilibria are established). At time t0, reactor power fall from 100% to 0% of rated power (e.g., after SCRAM). After shutdown, xenon 135 is no longer produced by fission and is removed by burnup. The only remaining production mechanism is the decay of the iodine 135, which was in the core at the time of shutdown. The only removal mechanism for xenon 135 is decay. Therefore, when the reactor power is decreased, xenon concentration initially increases because the xenon burnup falls to zero, and the 135I decay (6.6 h) is faster than the 135Xe decay (9.2 h).

The rate of the increase depends on the original neutron flux and increases with increasing flux. For large values of the neutron flux, the peak concentration occurs at 11.3 hours after shutdown (ln( λΙXe)/( λI − λXe) ≈ 11.3 hours). The peak is reached when the product of the terms λΙNI is equal to λXeNXe. The amount of additional negative reactivity in the xenon peak is strongly dependent on the original neutron flux. For the reactor shutdown (LWRs) from 100% to zero, the amount of additional negative reactivity may reach up to 2500 pcm, which has very important consequences. After reaching the xenon peak, the production of xenon from iodine decay is less than the removal of xenon by decay (λΙNI < λXeNXe), and the concentration of xenon 135 decreases. After another ten half-lives (from 11.3 hours to 80 hours), all the xenon undergo beta decay. The decay of xenon 135 causes a continuous insertion of positive reactivity. This positive reactivity insertion must be considered in subcriticality maintenance (i.e., SDM) or when approaching criticality. For LWRs, the xenon 135 concentration about 20 hours after shutdown from full power will be the same as the equilibrium xenon 135 concentration at full power. About 3 days after the shutdown, the xenon 135 concentration will have decreased to a small percentage of its pre-shutdown level. The reactor can be assumed to be xenon-free without a significant error introduced into reactivity calculations.

An important consequence of this ‘xenon peak’ after a reactor shutdown is that, unless sufficient additional reactivity is present, it cannot be possible to restart the reactor again before many hours have passed. This phenomenon is known as the “iodine pit” or “xenon pit,” and it is particularly important (LWRs) near or at the end of the cycle (EOC) since there is usually insufficient positive reactivity available from the chemical shim. At the end of the cycle, the additional xenon reactivity (up to 2500 pcm) may provide sufficient negative reactivity to make the estimated critical conditions out of the allowed range because there is insufficient positive reactivity available from the control rod removal or chemical shim to counteract it. In another case, when there is sufficient reactivity to make a reactor critical, there need not be enough reactivity to increase reactor power (i.e., balance power defect).

The inability of the reactor to be started due to the effects of xenon is sometimes referred to as xenon precluded startup. It is particularly important for reactors with very small excess reactivity (e.g., Heavy Water Reactors). The period where the reactor can “override” the effects of xenon 135 is called “xenon dead time”.

Thermal power reactors are normally limited to flux levels of about 5 x 1013neutrons/cm-2.s-1 so that timely restart can be ensured after shutdown. For reactors with very low thermal flux levels (~5 x 1013 neutrons/cm-2.s-1 or less), most xenon is removed by decay instead of xenon burnup. Reactor shutdown does not cause any xenon 135 peaking effects for these cases. Following the peak in xenon 135 concentration about 10 hours after shutdown, the xenon 135 concentration will decrease at a rate controlled by the decay of iodine 135 into xenon 135 and the decay rate of xenon 135.

Xenon pit - Iodine pit
Iodine Pit – Response to Reactor Shutdown

SDM and Safety Analyses (PWRs)

The minimum required SDM is assumed as an initial condition in safety analyses that are started from subcritical states. For cold shutdown mode, the primary safety analysis that relies on the SDM limits is the analysis of the unintentional decrease in boron concentration in the reactor coolant system (only for PWRs), where unborated water is added the reactor coolant system (RCS) to increase core reactivity. This may be inadvertent due to operator error or system malfunction and cause an unwanted increase in reactivity and a decrease in shutdown margin. The required SDM defines the reactivity difference between an initial subcritical boron concentration and the corresponding critical boron concentration. The operator must stop this unplanned dilution before the shutdown margin is eliminated.

For PWRs, the most limiting accident for the SDM requirements is based on a main steam line break (MSLB) starting from subcritical states. The steamline break causes the steam pressure the saturation temperature in the steam generators to fall rapidly. As a result of the falling saturation temperature in the steam generators, the moderator temperature will rapidly decrease. The rapid moderator temperature drop causes a positive reactivity insertion. The amount of reactivity inserted also depends on the magnitude of the MTC, and therefore it must be limited. The typical values for lower limit are MTC = -80 pcm/°C, but it is a plant-specific value limited in technical specifications. This positive reactivity addition may cause criticality of the core even with all rods inserted. The required SDM defines the reactivity difference between an initial subcritical boron concentration and the corresponding critical boron concentration.

In addition to these accidents, the SDM requirement is also assumed in:

  • Uncontrolled Control Rod Assembly Withdrawal from a Subcritical or Low Power Startup Condition
  • The spectrum of Rod Ejection Accidents
 
References:
Nuclear and Reactor Physics:
  1. J. R. Lamarsh, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Theory, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1983).
  2. J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.
  3. W. M. Stacey, Nuclear Reactor Physics, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN: 0- 471-39127-1.
  4. Glasstone, Sesonske. Nuclear Reactor Engineering: Reactor Systems Engineering, Springer; 4th edition, 1994, ISBN: 978-0412985317
  5. W.S.C. Williams. Nuclear and Particle Physics. Clarendon Press; 1 edition, 1991, ISBN: 978-0198520467
  6. G.R.Keepin. Physics of Nuclear Kinetics. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co; 1st edition, 1965
  7. Robert Reed Burn, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Operation, 1988.
  8. U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.
  9. Paul Reuss, Neutron Physics. EDP Sciences, 2008. ISBN: 978-2759800414.

Advanced Reactor Physics:

  1. K. O. Ott, W. A. Bezella, Introductory Nuclear Reactor Statics, American Nuclear Society, Revised edition (1989), 1989, ISBN: 0-894-48033-2.
  2. K. O. Ott, R. J. Neuhold, Introductory Nuclear Reactor Dynamics, American Nuclear Society, 1985, ISBN: 0-894-48029-4.
  3. D. L. Hetrick, Dynamics of Nuclear Reactors, American Nuclear Society, 1993, ISBN: 0-894-48453-2. 
  4. E. E. Lewis, W. F. Miller, Computational Methods of Neutron Transport, American Nuclear Society, 1993, ISBN: 0-894-48452-4.

See above:

Reactor Operation