Analysis of the IFA-432, IFA-597, and IFA-597 MOX Fuel Performance Experiments by FRAPCON-3.4

Technical Report · Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1048727· OSTI ID:1048727

Phillippe, Aaron M ^[1]; Ott, Larry J ^[1]; Clarno, Kevin T ^[1]; Banfield, James E ^[1]

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1. ORNL

Validation of advanced nuclear fuel modeling tools requires careful comparison with reliable experimental benchmark data. A comparison to industry-accepted codes, that are well characterized, and regulatory codes is also a useful evaluation tool. In this report, an independent validation of the FRAPCON-3.4 fuel performance code is conducted with respect to three experimental benchmarks, IFA-432, IFA-597, and IFA-597mox. FRAPCON was found to most accurately model the mox rods, to within 2% of the experimental data, depending on the simulation parameters. The IFA-432 and IFA-597 rods were modeled with FRAPCON predicting centerline temperatures different, on average, by 21 percent.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1048727
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-2012/195; NT0108020; NENT004
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English