Physics optimization of the Canadian SCWR core: Device-free reduction of core power peaking factors

The Canadian supercritical water cooled reactor (SCWR) is a supercritical light water cooled, heavy water moderated, pressure tube reactor, which shows a significant increase in thermodynamic efficiency compared to more conventional heavy water reactors (HWR), approximately 48% versus 33%, respectively. This advantage is partly offset by the need to employ supercritical water-resistant in-core materials that are higher neutron absorbers than traditional materials. It is therefore desirable to mitigate losses in neutron economy by developing strategies for power leveling that do not require the use of in-core or burnable neutron absorbers. A number of such strategies are investigated in this paper.