Watts Bar Unit 1 Cycle Zero Power Physics Tests Analysis with VERA-CS

Gehin, Jess C; Godfrey, Andrew T; Evans, Thomas M; Hamilton, Steven P; Francheschini, F.

Title: Watts Bar Unit 1 Cycle Zero Power Physics Tests Analysis with VERA-CS

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Abstract

The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) is developing a collection of methods and software products known as VERA, the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications, including a core simulation capability called VERA-CS. A key milestone for this endeavor is to validate VERA against measurements from operating nuclear power reactors. The first step in validation against plant data is to determine the ability of VERA to accurately simulate the initial startup physics tests for Watts Bar Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 (WBN1) cycle 1. VERA-CS calculations were performed with the Insilico code developed at ORNL using cross section processing from the SCALE system and the transport capabilities within the Denovo transport code using the SPN method. The calculations were performed with ENDF/B-VII.0 cross sections in 252 groups (collapsed to 23 groups for the 3D transport solution). The key results of the comparison of calculations with measurements include initial criticality, control rod worth critical configurations, control rod worth, differential boron worth, and isothermal temperature reactivity coefficient (ITC). The VERA results for these parameters show good agreement with measurements, with the exception of the ITC, which requires additional investigation. Results are also compared to those obtained with Monte Carlo methodsmore » and a current industry core simulator.« less

Authors:

Gehin, Jess C ^[1]; Godfrey, Andrew T ^[1]; Evans, Thomas M ^[1]; Hamilton, Steven P ^[1]; Francheschini, F. ^[2]

ORNL
Westinghouse Electric Company, Cranberry Township

Publication Date:: Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 1159408

DOE Contract Number:: DE-AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:: Conference

Resource Relation:: Conference: PHYSOR 2014, Kyoto, Japan, 20140928, 20141003

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: CASL; CORE PHYSICS; NEUTRONICS; PWR; VERA

Citation Formats


                    Gehin, Jess C, Godfrey, Andrew T, Evans, Thomas M, Hamilton, Steven P, and Francheschini, F. Watts Bar Unit 1 Cycle Zero Power Physics Tests Analysis with VERA-CS.  United States: N. p., 2014. 
        Web.

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                    Gehin, Jess C, Godfrey, Andrew T, Evans, Thomas M, Hamilton, Steven P, & Francheschini, F. Watts Bar Unit 1 Cycle Zero Power Physics Tests Analysis with VERA-CS.  United States.

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                    Gehin, Jess C, Godfrey, Andrew T, Evans, Thomas M, Hamilton, Steven P, and Francheschini, F. 2014.  
        "Watts Bar Unit 1 Cycle Zero Power Physics Tests Analysis with VERA-CS".  United States.

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@article{osti_1159408,

  title        = {Watts Bar Unit 1 Cycle Zero Power Physics Tests Analysis with VERA-CS},

  author       = {Gehin, Jess C and Godfrey, Andrew T and Evans, Thomas M and Hamilton, Steven P and Francheschini, F.},

  abstractNote = {The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) is developing a collection of methods and software products known as VERA, the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications, including a core simulation capability called VERA-CS. A key milestone for this endeavor is to validate VERA against measurements from operating nuclear power reactors. The first step in validation against plant data is to determine the ability of VERA to accurately simulate the initial startup physics tests for Watts Bar Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 (WBN1) cycle 1. VERA-CS calculations were performed with the Insilico code developed at ORNL using cross section processing from the SCALE system and the transport capabilities within the Denovo transport code using the SPN method. The calculations were performed with ENDF/B-VII.0 cross sections in 252 groups (collapsed to 23 groups for the 3D transport solution). The key results of the comparison of calculations with measurements include initial criticality, control rod worth critical configurations, control rod worth, differential boron worth, and isothermal temperature reactivity coefficient (ITC). The VERA results for these parameters show good agreement with measurements, with the exception of the ITC, which requires additional investigation. Results are also compared to those obtained with Monte Carlo methods and a current industry core simulator.},

  doi          = {},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1159408},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014},

  month        = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014}

}

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