Neutronic analysis of different patterns of ABV reactor core using low enrichment UO2 fuel

Today, small modular reactors have received considerable attention in various countries. The ABV reactor is a PWR small modular reactor that has various applications. This reactor has been used silumin metal fuel with a 16.5% enrichment. In the present work, the efficiency of the conventional UO2 fuel with enrichment of less than 10% to be used as the main fuel of ABV reactor has been investigated, and four different patterns for the reactor core have been proposed. To perform the calculations, the ABV reactor is modeled using the PARCS neutronic code and the RELAP5 thermohydraulic code. Finally, using computational codes for the proposed patterns of the reactor core, various quantities including reactor cycle length, reactivity, burnup, power distribution, fuel, coolant temperature distribution, and feedback coefficients have been calculated.