Study of the uncertainties due to position change of the PWR aeroball measurement system

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe aeroball measurement system (AMS) is an important in-core instrumentation in German pressurized water reactors. Therefore, it is essential to know the possible uncertainties of this system. One is the lack of knowledge of the positions of balls in the guide tubes. The position changes can be up to 7 mm. Since the neutron flux distribution is not constant across the guide tubes, different reaction rates can result from the displacements. Both fuel assembly and full core calculations were carried out with the Monte Carlo code MCNP5. Differences in the reaction rates of up to 2% could be determined. In most cases, differences are only up to 0.5%. The results were hardly influenced by burnup and boron concentration in the water moderator. For fuel assemblies containing gadolinium as a burnable poison, a more pronounced reduction could be observed in the direction towards the gadolinium fuel rods. Overall, it was found that the AMS measurement values are very robust with regard to possible variations of ball positions.