Sensitivity of Physics Parameters for Establishment of a Burned CANDU Full-Core Model for Decommissioning Waste Characterization

Abstract

The sensitivity of parameters related with reactor physics on the source terms of decommissioning wastes from a CANDU reactor was investigated in order to find a viable, simplified burned core model of a Monte Carlo simulation for decommissioning waste characterization. First, a sensitivity study was performed for the level of nuclide consideration in an irradiated fuel and implicit geometry modeling, the effects of side structural components of the core, and structural supporters for reactive devices. The overall effects for computation memory, calculation time, and accuracy were then investigated with a full-core model. From the results, it was revealed that the level of nuclide consideration and geometry homogenization are not important factors when the ratio of macroscopic neutron absorption cross section (MNAC) relative to a total value exceeded 0.95. The most important factor affecting the neutron flux of the pressure tube was shown to be the structural supporters for reactivity devices, showing an 10% difference. Finally, it was concluded that a bundle-average homogeneous model considering a MNAC of 0.95, which is the simplest model in this study, could be a viable approximate model, with about 25% lower computation memory, 40% faster simulation time, and reasonable engineering accuracy compared with a model with an explicit geometry employing an MNAC of 0.99.