The scale analysis sequence for LWR fuel depletion

The SCALE (Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation) code system is used extensively to perform away-from-reactor safety analysis (particularly criticality safety, shielding, heat transfer analyses) for spent light water reactor (LWR) fuel. Spent fuel characteristics such as radiation sources, heat generation sources, and isotopic concentrations can be computed within SCALE using the SAS2 control module. A significantly enhanced version of the SAS2 control module, which is denoted as SAS2H, has been made available with the release of SCALE-4. For each time-dependent fuel composition, SAS2H performs one-dimensional (1-D) neutron transport analyses (via XSDRNPM-S) of the reactor fuel assembly using a two-part procedure with two separate unit-cell-lattice models. The cross sections derived from a transport analysis at each time step are used in a point-depletion computation (via ORIGEN-S) that produces the burnup-dependent fuel composition to be used in the next spectral calculation. A final ORIGEN-S case is used to perform the complete depletion/decay analysis using the burnup-dependent cross sections. The techniques used by SAS2H and two recent applications of the code are reviewed in this paper. 17 refs., 5 figs., 5 tabs

Validation of a method for prediction of isotopic concentrations in burnup credit applications

Unlike fresh fuel assumptions typically employed in the criticality safety analysis of spent fuel configurations, burnup credit applications rely on depletion and decay calculations to predict the isotopic composition of spent fuel. These isotopics are used in subsequent criticality calculations to assess the reduced worth of the spent fuel. To validate the codes and data used in depletion approaches, experimental measurements are compared with numerical predictions for relevant spent fuel samples. This paper describes a set of experimentally characterized pressurized-water-reactor (PWR) fuel samples and provides a comparison to results of SCALE-4 depletion calculations. An approach to determine biases and uncertainties between calculated and measured isotopic concentrations is discussed, together with a method to statistically combine these terms to obtain a conservative estimate of spent fuel isotopic concentrations

A proposed Regulatory Guide basis for spent fuel decay heat

A proposed revision to Regulatory Guide 3.54, Spent Fuel Heat Generation in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation'' has been developed for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The proposed revision includes a data base of decay heat rates calculated as a function of burnup, specific power, cooling time, initial fuel {sup 235}U enrichment and assembly type (i.e., PWR or BWR). Validation of the calculational method was done by comparison with existing measured decay heat rates. Procedures for proper use of the data base, adjustment formulae accounting for effects due to differences in operating history and initial enrichment, and a defensible safety factor were derived. 15 refs., 6 tabs

Evaluation of spent fuel isotopics, radiation spectra and decay heat using the scale computational system

In order to be a self-sufficient system for transport/storage cask shielding and heat transfer analysis, the SCALE system developers included modules to evaluate spent fuel radiation spectra and decay heat. The primary module developed for these analyses is ORIGEN-S which is an updated verision of the original ORIGEN code. The COUPLE module was also developed to enable ORIGEN-S to easily utilize multigroup cross sections and neutron flux data during a depletion analysis. Finally, the SAS2 control module was developed for automating the depletion and decay via ORIGEN-S while using burnup-dependent neutronic data based on a user-specified fuel assembly and reactor history. The ORIGEN-S data libraries available for depletion and decay have also been significantly updated from that developed with the original ORIGEN code

ARP: Automatic rapid processing for the generation of problem dependent SAS2H/ORIGEN-s cross section libraries

In this report, a methodology is described which serves as an alternative to the SAS2H path of the SCALE system to generate cross sections for point-depletion calculations with the ORIGEN-S code. ARP, Automatic Rapid Processing, is an algorithm that allows the generation of cross-section libraries suitable to the ORIGEN-S code by interpolation over pregenerated SAS2H libraries. The interpolations are carried out on the following variables: burnup, enrichment, and water density. The adequacy of the methodology is evaluated by comparing measured and computed spent fuel isotopic compositions for PWR and BWR systems

ORIGEN-ARP, A Fast and Easy-to-Use Source Term Generation Tool

ORIGEN-ARP is a new SCALE analytical sequence for spent fuel characterization and source term generation that serves as a faster alternative to the SAS2H sequence by using the Automatic Rapid Processing (ARP) methodology for generating problem-dependent ORIGEN-S cross-section libraries. ORIGEN-ARP provides an easy-to-use menu-driven input processor. This new sequence is two orders of magnitude faster than SAS2H while conserving the rigor and accuracy of the SAS2H methodology. ORIGEN-ARP has been validated against pressurized water reactor (PWR) and boiling water reactor (BWR) spent fuel chemical assay data