Abstract
The novel design of the renewable boiling water reactor (RBWR) allows a breeding ratio greater than unity and thus, it aims at providing for a self-sustained fuel cycle. The neutron reactions that compose the different microscopic cross-sections and angular distributions are uncertain, so when they are employed in the determination of the spatial distribution of the neutron flux in a nuclear reactor, a methodology should be employed to account for these associated uncertainties. In this work, the Total Monte Carlo (TMC) method is used to propagate the different neutron-reactions (as well as angular distributions) covariances that are part of the TENDL-2014 nuclear data (ND) library. The main objective is to propagate them through coupled neutronic and thermal-hydraulic models in order to assess the uncertainty of important safety parameters related to multi-physics, such as peak cladding temperature along the axial direction of an RBWR fuel assembly. The objective of this study is to quantify the impact that ND covariances of important nuclides such as U-235, U-238, Pu-239 and the thermal scattering of hydrogen in H2O have in the deterministic safety analysis of novel nuclear reactors designs.
Highlights
BackgroundA High Conversion Water Reactor (HCWR) or Light Water Breeder Reactor (LWBR) is a nuclear reactor which is cooled by light water and can produce more fissile material than it consumes
A transient case corresponding to the modeling of a control rod (CR) withdrawal has been applied to the Total Monte Carlo (TMC) scheme of CORE SIM – TH
This paper reports results of an uncertainty analysis technique, such as the TMC method, being applied to the best estimate (BE) deterministic analysis of the novel renewable Boiling Water Reactor (RBWR) design
Summary
A High Conversion Water Reactor (HCWR) or Light Water Breeder Reactor (LWBR) is a nuclear reactor which is cooled by light water and can produce more fissile material than it consumes. In Japan, Hitachi is designing the Resource-renewable Boiling Water Reactor (RBWR) model as part of their innovative water reactor for flexible fuel cycle (FLWR) program [1] This reactor operates with mixed oxide (MOX) fuel and has a breeding ratio of 1.01. An RBWR fuel assembly contains five different enrichment fuel pins radially, and axially it contains five distinct active axial core zones: lower blanket, lower fissile, internal blanket, upper fissile and upper blanket. In this type of design, a high axial leakage is needed to keep the void coefficient of reactivity negative. The RBWR fuel assembly, as well as its axial configuration are shown in Fig. 1a and 1b, respectively
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