An algorithm for accurate modeling and simulating reactor cores with involute‐shaped fuel plates by Monte Carlo

Abstract

A real three-dimensional representation of reactor core with involute fuel plates via Monte Carlo method is still lacking at the present, and usually equivalent homogeneous models of water coolants and simplified fuel plate shapes have been used. This work proposed an algorithm to simulate the reactor core composed of involute fuel plates with an explicit accurate description of its involute surfaces. The description of involute surfaces is through its governing equations. The mathematical function methods to depict the involute curves and the schemes to compute the distance between any neutron particle and an involute surface along a ray are presented and demonstrated step-by-step. The algorithm is realized in the Monte Carlo code and validated by the published data of a high flux isotope reactor. This study definitively provides a method to model the involute fuel plates in the Monte Carlo simulation.