Monte Carlo Simulation of Inclined Reactivity Control Rod and Boron Poisoning for the Canadian-SCWR Supercell

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haykel Raouafi ◽  
Guy Marleau
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Coolant Temperature ◽  
Monte Carlo Code ◽  
Control Rod ◽  
Vertical Control ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Height ◽  
Supercell Model ◽  
Control Rods

The Canadian-SCWR is a heavy-water moderated supercritical light-water-cooled pressure tube reactor. It is fueled with CANada deuterium uranium (CANDU)-type bundles (62 elements) containing a mixture of thorium and plutonium oxides. Because the pressure tubes are vertical, the upper region of the core is occupied by the inlet and outlet headers render it nearly impossible to insert vertical control rods in the core from the top. Insertion of solid control devices from the bottom of the core is possible, but this option was initially rejected because it was judged impractical. The option that is proposed here is to use inclined control rods that are inserted from the side of the reactor and benefit from the gravitational pull exerted on them. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the neutronic performance of the proposed inclined control rods. To achieve this goal, we first develop a three-dimensional (3D) supercell model to simulate an inclined rod located between four vertical fuel cells. Simulations are performed with the SERPENT Monte Carlo code at five axial positions in the reactor to evaluate the effect of coolant temperature and density, which varies substantially with core height, on the reactivity worth of the control rods. The effect of modifying the inclination and spatial position of the control rod inside the supercell is then analyzed. Finally, we evaluate how boron poisoning of the moderator affects their effectiveness.

scholarly journals Predicting Ex-core Detector Response in a PWR with Monte Carlo Neutron Transport Methods

2020 ◽  
Vol 225 ◽  
pp. 03007
Author(s):  
Tanja Goričanec ◽  
Domen Kotnik ◽  
Žiga Štancar ◽  
Luka Snoj ◽  
Marjan Kromar
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Neutron Transport ◽  
Reactor Core ◽  
Response Prediction ◽  
Detector Response ◽  
Design Calculation ◽  
Monte Carlo Code ◽  
Control Rod ◽  
The Core ◽  
Fuel Assemblies

An approach for calculating ex-core detector response using Monte Carlo code MCNP was developed. As a first step towards ex-core detector response prediction a detailed MCNP model of the reactor core was made. A script called McCord was developed as a link between deterministic program package CORD-2 and Monte Carlo code MCNP. It automatically generates an MCNP input from the CORD-2 data. A detailed MCNP core model was used to calculate 3D power distributions inside the core. Calculated power distributions were verified by comparison to the CORD-2 calculations, which is currently used for core design calculation verification of the Krško nuclea power plant. For the hot zero power configuration, the deviations are within 3 % for majority of fuel assemblies and slightly higher for fuel assemblies located at the core periphery. The computational model was further verified by comparing the calculated control rod worth to the CORD-2 results. The deviations were within 50 pcm and considered acceptable. The research will in future be supplemented with the in-core and ex-core detector signal calculations and neutron transport outside the reactor core.

scholarly journals MULTI-PHYSICS TRANSIENT SIMULATIONS WITH TRIPOLI-4®

2021 ◽  
Vol 247 ◽  
pp. 07019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaux Faucher ◽  
Davide Mancusi ◽  
Andrea Zoia
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Neutron Transport ◽  
Coolant Temperature ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Monte Carlo Code ◽  
Thermal Hydraulics ◽  
Fuel Temperature ◽  
Control Rod ◽  
Transient Simulations ◽  
Neutron Power

In this work, we present the first dynamic calculations performed with the Monte Carlo neutron transport code TRIPOLI-4R with thermal-hydraulics feedback. For this purpose, the Monte Carlo code was extended for multi-physics capabilities and coupled to the thermal-hydraulics subchannel code SUBCHANFLOW. As a test case for the verification of transient simulation capabilities, a 3x3-assembly mini-core benchmark based on the TMI-1 reactor is considered with a pin-by-pin description. Two reactivity excursion scenarios initiated by control-rod movement are simulated starting from a critical state and compared to analogous simulations performed using the Serpent 2 Monte-Carlo code. The time evolution of the neutron power, fuel temperature, coolant temperature and coolant density are analysed to assess the multi-physics capabilities of TRIPOLI-4. The stabilizing e_ects of thermal-hydraulics on the neutron power appear to be well taken into account. The computational requirements for massively parallel calculations are also discussed.

scholarly journals Development and Application of MCNP5 and KENO-VI Monte Carlo Models for the Atucha-2 PHWR Analysis

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Pecchia ◽  
C. Parisi ◽  
F. D'Auria ◽  
O. Mazzantini
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
3D Model ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Control Rod ◽  
Geometrical Complexity ◽  
Reactor Criticality ◽  
Reactor Cell ◽  
And Control ◽  
Control Rods

The geometrical complexity and the peculiarities of Atucha-2 PHWR require the adoption of advanced Monte Carlo codes for performing realistic neutronic simulations. Core models of Atucha-2 PHWR were developed using both MCNP5 and KENO-VI codes. The developed models were applied for calculating reactor criticality states at beginning of life, reactor cell constants, and control rods volumes. The last two applications were relevant for performing successive three dimensional neutron kinetic analyses since it was necessary to correctly evaluate the effect of each oblique control rod in each cell discretizing the reactor. These corrective factors were then applied to the cell cross sections calculated by the two-dimensional deterministic lattice physics code HELIOS. These results were implemented in the RELAP-3D model to perform safety analyses for the licensing process.

Monte Carlo studies on electromagnetic cascades in extensive air showers

1968 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. S189-S196 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. O. Thielheim ◽  
E. K. Schlegel ◽  
R. Beiersdorf
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Electron Density ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Extensive Air Showers ◽  
Air Showers ◽  
Energy Distributions ◽  
The Core ◽  
Fragmentation Mechanisms ◽  
Monte Carlo Studies

Three-dimensional Monte Carlo calculations have been performed on the trajectories of high-energy hadrons in extensive air showers. The central electron density and gradient of distribution are obtained for individual electromagnetic cascades together with coordinates at the level of observation. Various assumptions concerning primary mass number and energy, distributions of strong interaction parameters, and fragmentation mechanisms are discussed with respect to the production of steep maxima of electron density by single electromagnetic cascades in the core region of extensive air showers.

Validating the Serpent-Ants Calculation Chain Using BEAVRS Fresh Core HZP Data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ville Valtavirta ◽  
Antti Rintala ◽  
Unna Lauranto
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Power Distribution ◽  
Measured Data ◽  
Monte Carlo Code ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Isothermal Temperature ◽  
Control Rod ◽  
Temperature Coefficients ◽  
Group Constant

Abstract The Serpent Monte Carlo code and the Serpent-Ants two step calculation chain are used to model the hot zero power physics tests described in the BEAVRS benchmark. The predicted critical boron concentrations, control rod group worths and isothermal temperature coefficients are compared between Serpent and Serpent-Ants as well as against the experimental measurements. Furthermore, radial power distributions in the unrodded and rodded core configurations are compared between Serpent and Serpent-Ants. In addition to providing results using a best practices calculation chain, the effects of several simplifications or omissions in the group constant generation process on the results are estimated. Both the direct and two-step neutronics solutions provide results close to the measured values. Comparison between the measured data and the direct Serpent Monte Carlo solution yields RMS differences of 12.1 mg/kg, 25.1 × 10-5 and 0.67 × 10-5 K-1 for boron, control rod worths and temperature coefficients respectively. The two-step Serpent-Ants solution reaches a similar level of accuracy with RMS differences of 17.4 mg/kg, 23.6 × 10-5 and 0.29 × 10-5 K-1. The match in the radial power distribution between Serpent and Serpent-Ants was very good with the RMS and maximum for pin power errors being 1.31 % and 4.99 % respectively in the unrodded core and 1.67 %(RMS) and 8.39 % (MAX) in the rodded core.

Control rod calibration simulation using Monte Carlo code for the IRT-type research reactor

2016 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 332-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.V. Shchurovskaya ◽  
V.P. Alferov ◽  
N.I. Geraskin ◽  
A.I. Radaev ◽  
A.G. Naymushin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Research Reactor ◽  
Monte Carlo Code ◽  
Control Rod

Development of REFT Code System for the Analysis of Highly Heterogeneous Research Reactors

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tengfei Zhang ◽  
Hongchun Wu ◽  
Youqi Zheng ◽  
Liangzhi Cao ◽  
Yunzhao Li
Keyword(s):  
Least Square Method ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Core Analysis ◽  
Code System ◽  
Lattice Calculation ◽  
Control Rod ◽  
Research Reactors ◽  
The Core ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Control Rods

As an effort to enhance the accuracy in simulating the operations of research reactors, a fuel management code system REFT was developed. Because of the possible complex assembly geometry and the core configuration of research reactors, the code system employed HELIOS in the lattice calculation to describe arbitrary 2D geometry, and used the 3D triangular nodal SN method transport solver, DNTR, to model unstructured geometry in the core analysis. Flux reconstruction with the least square method and micro depletion model for specific isotopes were incorporated in the code. At the same time, to make it more user friendly, a graphical user interface was also developed for REFT. In the analysis of the research reactors, the calculations involving the control rod movement are encountered frequently. The modeling of the control rods differential worth behavior is important in that the movement of the control rod may introduce variations on the reactivity. To handle the problem two effective ways of alleviating the control rod cusping effect are recently proposed, based on the established code system. The methodologies along with their application and validation will be discussed.

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