NEUTRONIC AND THERMAL HYDRAULICS ANALYSIS OF CONTROL ROD EFFECT ON THE OPERATION SAFETY OF TRIGA 2000 REACTOR

Abstract

NEUTRONIC AND THERMAL HYDRAULICS ANALYSIS OF CONTROL ROD EFFECT ON THE OPERATION SAFETY OF TRIGA 2000 REACTOR. Analysis of neutronic and thermal-hydraulics parameters of whole operation cycle is very important for the safety of reactor operation. During the reactor operation cycle, the position of the control rods will change due to reactivity changes. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of control rods position on neutronic and thermal-hydraulics parameters in relation to the safety of reactor operation of the TRIGA 2000 reactor using silicide fuel of MTR plate type. Those parameters are power peaking factor, reactivity coefficients, and steady-state thermohydraulic parameters. Neutronic calculations are performed using a combination of WIMSD/5 and Batan-3DIFF codes and for thermal-hydraulics the calculations are done using WIMSD/5 and MTRDYN codes. The calculation results show that the reactivity coefficient values are negative for all control rod positions both at CZP and HFP conditions. The MTC value decreases when the control rod is inserted into the active core while the FTC value increases. The total ppf results and temperature in steady-state rise when the control rods are inserted of into the active core whereby the maximum value occurs at the position of the control rods of 20 cm from the bottom of the active core. The calculation results of ppf, reactivity coefficient, and thermal-hydraulics parameters lay below safety limits, indicating that the TRIGA 2000 reactor can safely use U3Si2-Al silicide fuel as a substitute fuel for cylindrical type fuel.Keywords: neutronic, thermal-hydraulic parameter, control rod effect, TRIGA 2000, silicide fuel.