NOMAD: a nodal microscopic analysis method for nuclear fuel depletion

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1987 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7100709

Rajic, H L; Ougouag, A M

Recently developed assembly homogenization techniques made possible very efficient global burnup calculations based on modern nodal methods. There are two possible ways of modeling the global depletion process: macroscopic and microscopic depletion models. Using a microscopic global depletion approach NOMAD (NOdal Microscopic Analysis Method for Nuclear Fuel Depletion), a multigroup, two- and three-dimensional, multicycle depletion code was devised. The code uses the ILLICO nodal diffusion model. The formalism of the ILLICO methodology is extended to treat changes in the macroscopic cross sections during a depletion cycle without recomputing the coupling coefficients. This results in a computationally very efficient method. The code was tested against a well-known depletion benchmark problem. In this problem a two-dimensional pressurized water reactor is depleted through two cycles. Both cycles were run with 1 x 1 and 2 x 2 nodes per assembly. It is obvious that the one node per assembly solution gives unacceptable results while the 2 x 2 solution gives relative power errors consistently below 2%.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Illinois, Urbana (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7100709
• Report Number(s): CONF-8711195-; TRN: 88-033384
• Journal Information: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 55; Conference: American Nuclear Society winter meeting, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 15 Nov 1987
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR PHYSICS
BURNUP
N CODES
ACCURACY
BENCHMARKS
ERRORS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
COMPUTER CODES
PHYSICS
REACTORS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
210200* - Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Nonboiling Water Cooled