Development of 3D full-core ERANOS-2.2/MCNPX-2.7.0 models and neutronic analysis of the BFS-2 zero-power facility
- Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
- Paul Scherrer Institut PSI, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI (Switzerland)
The present paper is addressing the development and validation against experimental data of 3D full-core models of the BFS-2 zero-power fast-reactor using both the deterministic system code ERANOS-2.2 and the stochastic code MCNPX-2.7.0. The model configuration of BFS considered for analysis is the BFS-62-3A benchmark. To extend the - deterministic/stochastic - code-to-code comparison, neutronic parameters, i.e. reactivity, neutron spectrum and reaction rates, were also simulated at the cell level with the Monte Carlo code SERPENT-1.1.7 with two modern data libraries, ENDF-B/VII and JEFF-3.1.1. The BFS-2 critical zero-power facility at the Inst. of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE) was designed for simulations of the core and shielding of sodium-cooled, fast reactors, for neutron data validation and comparison with experimental results. At the BFS-2 facility, the BFS-62-3A critical benchmark experiment was set-up as a mock-up of the BN-600 reactor, with hybrid MOX fuel and stainless steel reflectors. A UO{sub 2} blanket and a large non-homogeneous stainless-steel reflector surround the core. The lattice is hexagonal of pitch 5.1 cm and metallic dowels are used to keep in central position cylindrical rods made of different types of material (fissile, fertile, blanket, plenum, shielding and absorber). A typical subassembly is formed in piling up various pellets of about 1 cm in height and 4.6 cm in diameter, conferring large heterogeneity in the axial direction. The full-core model development was a complex task due to the large number of subassemblies and the axial subassembly heterogeneity. In ERANOS-2.2, it was necessary to homogenize axially per region the pellets used to form the subassembly. The self-shielded macroscopic cross-sections were calculated using the cell code ECCO in association with JEFF-3.1 and ENDF/B-VI.8 data libraries. The core calculations were performed with broad cross-sections data in 33 neutron energy groups with the solver AVNM in the diffusion approximation, mostly. In MCNPX-2.7.0, a step-by-step approach was used, starting with a model in which the fissile rods were simulated on a homogeneous level, to finally integrate the actual heterogeneous description of the subassemblies. The code-to-code cell analysis performed between ECCO, SERPENT and MCNPX with different modern nuclear data library revealed that the results for the infinite multiplication factor between Monte Carlo and deterministic analysis are in good agreement ({Delta}p < 100 pcm). The differences between the results were observed to be larger for the neutron data libraries, with reactivity differences up to 350 pcm. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22107778
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP '12: 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, Chicago, IL (United States), 24-28 Jun 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France; 10 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2012 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants - ICAPP '12| 2799 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
97 MATHEMATICAL METHODS AND COMPUTING
BELOYARSK-3 REACTOR
BENCHMARKS
BFS REACTOR
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
CROSS SECTIONS
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
NEUTRON SPECTRA
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR DATA COLLECTIONS
REACTION KINETICS
REACTOR CORES
SHIELDING
STAINLESS STEELS
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
URANIUM DIOXIDE