Control rod worth calculations using deterministic and stochastic methods

Abstract

Abstract Knowledge of the efficiency of a control rod to absorb excess reactivity in a nuclear reactor, i.e. knowledge of its reactivity worth, is very important from many points of view. These include the analysis and the assessment of the shutdown margin of new core configurations (upgrade, conversion, refuelling, etc.) as well as several operational needs, such as calibration of the control rods, e.g. in case that reactivity insertion experiments are planned. The control rod worth can be assessed either experimentally or theoretically, mainly through the utilization of neutronic codes. In the present work two different theoretical approaches, i.e. a deterministic and a stochastic one are used for the estimation of the integral and the differential worth of two control rods utilized in the Greek Research Reactor (GRR-1). For the deterministic approach the neutronics code system SCALE (modules NITAWL/XSDRNPM) and CITATION is used, while the stochastic one is made using the Monte Carlo code TRIPOLI. Both approaches follow the procedure of reactivity insertion steps and their results are tested against measurements conducted in the reactor. The goal of this work is to examine the capability of a deterministic code system to reliably simulate the worth of a control rod, based also on comparisons with the detailed Monte Carlo simulation, while various options are tested with respect to the deterministic results’ reliability.