Thermophysical Analysis of the Core Design of the Canadian Nuclear Battery

Abstract

The Canadian Nuclear Battery (CNB) is a 2400 kWth (500 kWe) small modular reactor initially designed in the 1980’s targeted at applications in remote locations in Northern Canada. The reactor adapts heat pipes as the primary heat removal system, which demonstrates passive cooling characteristics. In this paper, the nominal steady state and a hypothetical transient are analysed with a hexagonal unit cell model of the core. Future research will be on the thermophysical analysis of a one-twelfth core model coupled with neutronics calculations in Serpent.