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Title: Development of an automated core model for nuclear reactors

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/304132· OSTI ID:304132

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective of this project was to develop an automated package of computer codes that can model the steady-state behavior of nuclear-reactor cores of various designs. As an added benefit, data produced for steady-state analysis also can be used as input to the TRAC transient-analysis code for subsequent safety analysis of the reactor at any point in its operating lifetime. The basic capability to perform steady-state reactor-core analysis already existed in the combination of the HELIOS lattice-physics code and the NESTLE advanced nodal code. In this project, the automated package was completed by (1) obtaining cross-section libraries for HELIOS, (2) validating HELIOS by comparing its predictions to results from critical experiments and from the MCNP Monte Carlo code, (3) validating NESTLE by comparing its predictions to results from numerical benchmarks and to measured data from operating reactors, and (4) developing a linkage code to transform HELIOS output into NESTLE input.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Management and Administration, Washington, DC (US)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
304132
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-98-2650; ON: DE99001260; TRN: US0301415
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Supercedes report DE99001260; PBD: [1998]; PBD: 31 Dec 1998
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English