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Interpretation of energy deposition data from historical operation of the transient test facility (TREAT)

Journal Article · · Nuclear Engineering and Design
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Reactor Physics Design and Analysis Dept.

The Transient Test Reactor (TREAT) at Idaho National Laboratory will resume operations in late 2017 after a 23 year hiatus while maintained in a cold standby state. Over that time period, computational power and simulation capabilities have increased substantially and now allow for new multiphysics modeling possibilities that were not practical or feasible for most of TREAT's operational history. Hence the return of TREAT to operational service provides a unique opportunity to apply state-of-the-art software and associated methods in the modeling and simulation of general three-dimensional steady state and kinetic behavior for reactor operation, and for coupling of the core power transient model to experiment simulations. However, measurements taken in previous operations were intended to predict power deposition in experimental samples, with little consideration of three-dimensional core power distributions. Hence, interpretation of data for the purpose of validation of modern methods can be challenging. For the research discussed herein, efforts are described for the process of proper interpretation of data from the most recent calibration experiments performed in the core, the M8 calibration series (M8-CAL). These measurements were taken between 1990 and 1993 using a set of fission wires and test fuel pins to estimate the power deposition that would be produced in fast reactor test fuel pins during the M8 experiment series. Because of the decision to place TREAT into a standby state in 1994, the M8 series of transients were never performed. However, potentially valuable information relevant for validation is available in the M8-CAL measurement data, if properly interpreted. This article describes the current state of the process of recovery of useful data from M8-CAL measurements and quantification of biases and uncertainties to potentially apply to the validation of multiphysics methods.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1375321
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1549630
OSTI ID: 22741226
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU--17-41863; PII: S0029549317303515
Journal Information:
Nuclear Engineering and Design, Journal Name: Nuclear Engineering and Design Journal Issue: C Vol. 322; ISSN 0029-5493
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (8)

Advanced multiphysics coupling for LWR fuel performance analysis journal October 2015
MCNP6 simulated performance of Micro-Pocket Fission Detectors (MPFDs) in the Transient REActor Test (TREAT) facility journal June 2017
Multidimensional multiphysics simulation of nuclear fuel behavior journal April 2012
ENDF/B-VII.1 Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Cross Sections, Covariances, Fission Product Yields and Decay Data journal December 2011
MOOSE: A parallel computational framework for coupled systems of nonlinear equations journal October 2009
Time Dependence of Test Fuel Power Coupling During Transient Reactor Test Facility Irradiation Experiments journal February 1984
Fast-Neutron Hodoscope at Treat: Development and Operation journal November 1975
Baseline Assessment of TREAT for Modeling and Analysis Needs report October 2015

Cited By (2)

Development of Advanced Instrumentation for Transient Testing journal August 2019
A Coupled Multiscale Approach to TREAT LEU Feedback Modeling Using a Binary-Collision Monte-Carlo–Informed Heat Source journal November 2018

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