Comparative Neutronics Analysis of DIMPLE S06 Criticality Benchmark with Contemporary Reactor Core Analysis Computer Code Systems

A high-leakage core has been known to be a challenging problem not only for a two-step homogenization approach but also for a direct heterogeneous approach. In this paper the DIMPLE S06 core, which is a small high-leakage core, has been analyzed by a direct heterogeneous modeling approach and by a two-step homogenization modeling approach, using contemporary code systems developed for reactor core analysis. The focus of this work is a comprehensive comparative analysis of the conventional approaches and codes with a small core design, DIMPLE S06 critical experiment. The calculation procedure for the two approaches is explicitly presented in this paper. Comprehensive comparative analysis is performed by neutronics parameters: multiplication factor and assembly power distribution. Comparison of two-group homogenized cross sections from each lattice physics codes shows that the generated transport cross section has significant difference according to the transport approximation to treat anisotropic scattering effect. The necessity of the ADF to correct the discontinuity at the assembly interfaces is clearly presented by the flux distributions and the result of two-step approach. Finally, the two approaches show consistent results for all codes, while the comparison with the reference generated by MCNP shows significant error except for another Monte Carlo code, SERPENT2open0

Monte Carlo Analysis of the Accelerator-Driven System at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute

An accelerator-driven system consists of a subcritical reactor and a controllable external neutron source. The reactor in an accelerator-driven system can sustain fission reactions in a subcritical state using an external neutron source, which is an intrinsic safety feature of the system. The system can provide efficient transmutations of nuclear wastes such as minor actinides and long-lived fission products and generate electricity. Recently at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI; Kyoto, Japan), a series of reactor physics experiments was conducted with the Kyoto University Critical Assembly and a Cockcroft-Walton type accelerator, which generates the external neutron source by deuterium-tritium reactions. In this paper, neutronic analyses of a series of experiments have been re-estimated by using the latest Monte Carlo code and nuclear data libraries. This feasibility study is presented through the comparison of Monte Carlo simulation results with measurements.clos

Validation of nuclide depletion capabilities in Monte Carlo code MCS

In this work, the depletion capability implemented in Monte Carlo code MCS is investigated to predict the isotopic compositions of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). By comparison of MCS calculation results to post irradiation examination (PIE) data obtained from one pressurized water reactor (PWR), the validation of this capability is conducted. The depletion analysis is performed with the ENDF/B-VII.1 library and a fuel assembly model. The transmutation equation is solved by the Chebyshev Rational Approximation Method (CRAM) with a depletion chain of 3820 isotopes. 18 actinides and 19 fission products are analyzed in 14 SNF samples. The effect of statistical uncertainties on the calculated number densities is discussed. On average, most of the actinides and fission products analyzed are predicted within +/- 6% of the experiment. MCS depletion results are also compared to other depletion codes based on publicly reported information in literature. The code-to-code analysis shows comparable accuracy. Overall, it is demonstrated that the depletion capability in MCS can be reliably applied in the prediction of SNF isotopic inventory. (c) 2020 Korean Nuclear Society, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Verification and validation of isotope inventory prediction for back-end cycle management using two-step method

This paper presents the verification and validation (V&V) of a calculation module for isotope inventory prediction to control the back-end cycle of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The calculation method presented herein was implemented in a two-step code system of a lattice code STREAM and a nodal diffusion code RAST-K. STREAM generates a cross section and provides the number density information using branch/ history depletion branch calculations, whereas RAST-K supplies the power history and three history indices (boron concentration, moderator temperature, and fuel temperature). As its primary feature, this method can directly consider three-dimensional core simulation conditions using history indices of the operating conditions. Therefore, this method reduces the computation time by avoiding a recalculation of the fuel depletion. The module for isotope inventory calculates the number densities using the Lagrange interpolation method and power history correction factors, which are applied to correct the effects of the decay and fission products generated at different power levels. To assess the reliability of the developed code system for back-end cycle analysis, validation study was performed with 58 measured samples of pressurized water reactor (PWR) SNF, and code-to-code comparison was conducted with STREAM-SNF, HELIOS-1.6 and SCALE 5.1. The V&V results presented that the developed code system can provide reasonable results with comparable confidence intervals. As a result, this paper successfully demonstrates that the isotope inventory prediction code system can be used for spent nuclear fuel analysis. (c) 2021 Korean Nuclear Society, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Overcoming the challenges of Monte Carlo depletion: Application to a material-testing reactor with the MCS code

The theoretical aspects behind the reactor depletion capability of the Monte Carlo code MCS developed at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and practical results of this depletion feature for a Material-Testing Reactor (MTR) with plate-type fuel are described in this paper. A verification of MCS results is first performed against MCNP6 to confirm the suitability of MCS for the criticality and depletion analysis of the MTR. Then, the dependence of the effective neutron multiplication factor to the number of axial and radial depletion cells adopted in the fuel plates is performed with MCS in order to determine the minimum spatial segmentation of the fuel plates. Monte Carlo depletion results with 37,800 depletion cells are provided by MCS within acceptable calculation time and memory usage. The results show that at least 7 axial meshes per fuel plate are required to reach the same precision as the reference calculation whereas no significant differences are observed when modeling 1 or 10 radial meshes per fuel plate. This study demonstrates that MCS can address the need for Monte Carlo codes capable of providing reference solutions to complex reactor depletion problems with refined meshes for fuel management and research reactor applications. (c) 2020 Korean Nuclear Society, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)