A Code to Code Benchmark for HTGR Fuel Element Depletion

Technical Report · Thu Feb 14 04:00:00 EST 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1497033· OSTI ID:1497033

DeHart, Mark D ^[1]; Ulses, Anthony P. ^[2]

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1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

The current lack of well-qualified experimental measurements for spent HGTR fuel elements limits the validation of advanced doubly heterogeneous depletion methods. Because of this shortage of data, a benchmark was developed as the first, simplest phase in a planned series of increasingly complex set of code-to-code benchmarks. The intent of this benchmark was to encourage submission of a wide range of computational results for depletion calculations in a set of basic fuel cell models. Comparison of results using independent methods and data should provide insight into potential limitations in various modeling approximations. The benchmark seeks to provide the simplest possible models, in order to minimize the effect of competing and potentially offsetting phenomena that might mask weaknesses in given methods. Twenty-one sets of results were submitted by twelve participants internationally. Various approaches were used for the treatment of microscopic grains dispersed in fuel elements in the second and third parts of the benchmark, including explicit treatment of grains distributed within a regular lattice, a randomized distribution of explicit grains, reactivity-equivalent physical transformation and a two-pass homogenization with disadvantage factors. The broad agreement appears to validate each of the double heterogeneity treatments.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1497033
• Report Number(s): INL/EXT--15-34510-Rev000
• Country of Publication: France
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
Benchmark
Grain
HTGR
NEA
OECD
Pebble
Prismatic