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Title: Decay heat uncertainty for BWR used fuel due to modeling and nuclear data uncertainties

Abstract

Characterization of the energy released from radionuclide decay in nuclear fuel discharged from reactors is essential for the design, safety, and licensing analyses of used nuclear fuel storage, transportation, and repository systems. There are a limited number of decay heat measurements available for commercial used fuel applications. Because decay heat measurements can be expensive or impractical for covering the multitude of existing fuel designs, operating conditions, and specific application purposes, decay heat estimation relies heavily on computer code prediction. Uncertainty evaluation for calculated decay heat is an important aspect when assessing code prediction and a key factor supporting decision making for used fuel applications. While previous studies have largely focused on uncertainties in code predictions due to nuclear data uncertainties, this study discusses uncertainties in calculated decay heat due to uncertainties in assembly modeling parameters as well as in nuclear data. Capabilities in the SCALE nuclear analysis code system were used to quantify the effect on calculated decay heat of uncertainties in nuclear data and selected manufacturing and operation parameters for a typical boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel assembly. Furthermore, the BWR fuel assembly used as the reference case for this study was selected from a set of assemblies formore » which high-quality decay heat measurements are available, to assess the significance of the results through comparison with calculated and measured decay heat data.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1435337
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1416618
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; AC0500OR22725
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Engineering and Design
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 319; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5493
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; Decay heat; BWR; SCALE; Sampler; Uncertainty; Used nuclear fuel

Citation Formats

Ilas, Germina, and Liljenfeldt, Henrik. Decay heat uncertainty for BWR used fuel due to modeling and nuclear data uncertainties. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.05.009.
Ilas, Germina, & Liljenfeldt, Henrik. Decay heat uncertainty for BWR used fuel due to modeling and nuclear data uncertainties. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.05.009
Ilas, Germina, and Liljenfeldt, Henrik. 2017. "Decay heat uncertainty for BWR used fuel due to modeling and nuclear data uncertainties". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.05.009. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1435337.
@article{osti_1435337,
title = {Decay heat uncertainty for BWR used fuel due to modeling and nuclear data uncertainties},
author = {Ilas, Germina and Liljenfeldt, Henrik},
abstractNote = {Characterization of the energy released from radionuclide decay in nuclear fuel discharged from reactors is essential for the design, safety, and licensing analyses of used nuclear fuel storage, transportation, and repository systems. There are a limited number of decay heat measurements available for commercial used fuel applications. Because decay heat measurements can be expensive or impractical for covering the multitude of existing fuel designs, operating conditions, and specific application purposes, decay heat estimation relies heavily on computer code prediction. Uncertainty evaluation for calculated decay heat is an important aspect when assessing code prediction and a key factor supporting decision making for used fuel applications. While previous studies have largely focused on uncertainties in code predictions due to nuclear data uncertainties, this study discusses uncertainties in calculated decay heat due to uncertainties in assembly modeling parameters as well as in nuclear data. Capabilities in the SCALE nuclear analysis code system were used to quantify the effect on calculated decay heat of uncertainties in nuclear data and selected manufacturing and operation parameters for a typical boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel assembly. Furthermore, the BWR fuel assembly used as the reference case for this study was selected from a set of assemblies for which high-quality decay heat measurements are available, to assess the significance of the results through comparison with calculated and measured decay heat data.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.05.009},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1435337}, journal = {Nuclear Engineering and Design},
issn = {0029-5493},
number = C,
volume = 319,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri May 19 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri May 19 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Journal Article:

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Cited by: 18 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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journal, May 2011


Reactor Physics Methods and Analysis Capabilities in SCALE
journal, May 2011


Propagation of statistical and nuclear data uncertainties in Monte Carlo burn-up calculations
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Validation of ORIGEN for LWR used fuel decay heat analysis with SCALE
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Uncertainties for Swiss LWR spent nuclear fuels due to nuclear data
journal, January 2018