Characteristic Analyses of “177 Core” of HPR1000

The most remarkable technical feature of HPR1000 PWR nuclear power plant is that the reactor adopts a core composed of 177 fuel assemblies (hereinafter referred to as “177 core”), which has complete independent intellectual property right. In order to deeply analyze its characteristics, this paper introduces the main technical features of “177 core”, the number of fuel assemblies and control rod assemblies is compared with the core composed of 157 fuel assemblies (hereinafter referred to as “157 core”); the similarities and differences between two typical reactor core loading schemes (“177-A core” and “177-B core”) are described and evaluated. The results show that “177 core” has more advantages in safety and economy compared with “157 core”; the first cycle loading arrangements of the two typical cores have their own advantages; in terms of burnable poison material selection, “177-B core” is better than “177-A core”. Finally, possible optimization suggestions for the HPR1000 reactor core in the future are given from five aspects, such as canceling the central position control rod assembly of the core, setting the radial metal reflector of the core, implementing no neutron source startup, loading self-developed fuel assemblies in batches and optimizing the length of the active core.