Feasibility of breed-and-burn reactor core design with nitride fuel and lead coolant

•A nitride-fueled LFR core could achieve the breed-and burn (B&B) condition in which a Rotational Fuel-shuffling (RF) scheme is investigated to establish high-neutron-economy B&B mode.•The DPA of discharged fuel from taller core (220 cm in height) with low power of 450 MW exceeded the constraint.•A nitride-fueled LFR shorter core with 140 cm in height, with 750 MW of power sustained B&B operating mode in addition to solving the issues of the taller core.•The maximum temperatures of fuel and cladding of the shorter core were under their melting points, while the maximum coolant temperature was less than its boiling point.•The feasibility of a 750 MW RFBB-NL with neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analyses is proved. The global demand for energy is constantly increasing, and reliable, sustainable energy sources are urgently needed. Nuclear energy is one such source, and many thermal reactors are currently in operation. As a result, a huge amount of depleted uranium has been stored, and reprocessing plants or fast reactors operating in breed-and burn (B&B) mode are necessary for effective utilization of uranium source. In the present paper, we investigate the feasibility of a Rotational Fuel-shuffling breed-and-burn reactor with Nitride fuel and Lead coolant (RFBB-NL) with neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analyses. In order to establish a high neutron-economy B&B mode, the core is established with a Rotational Fuel-shuffling (RF) scheme. The present study confirms the feasibility of a small LFR design functioning in B&B operating mode by optimizing core height and operating parameters. We kept the maximum temperatures of fuel, cladding, and coolant under their constraints by performing a steady state thermal-hydraulic analysis for the hot channel of a shorter core with higher power.