Qualification of APOLLO2 BWR calculation scheme on the BASALA mock-up

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:22039738

Vaglio-Gaudard, C; Santamarina, A; Sargeni, A; Le Tellier, R; Vidal, J F ^[1]

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1. CEA-Cadarache, DEN/DER/SPRC, 13108 Saint Paul Lez Durance (France)

A new neutronic APOLLO2/MOC/SHEM/CEA2005 calculation scheme for BWR applications has been developed by the French 'Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique'. This scheme is based on the latest calculation methodology (accurate mutual and self-shielding formalism, MOC treatment of the transport equation) and the recent JEFF3.1 nuclear data library. This paper presents the experimental validation of this new calculation scheme on the BASALA BWR mock-up The BASALA programme is devoted to the measurements of the physical parameters of high moderation 100% MOX BWR cores, in hot and cold conditions. The experimental validation of the calculation scheme deals with core reactivity, fission rate maps, reactivity worth of void and absorbers (cruciform control blades and Gd pins), as well as temperature coefficient. Results of the analysis using APOLLO2/MOC/SHEM/CEA2005 show an overestimation of the core reactivity by 600 pcm for BASALA-Hot and 750 pcm for BASALA-Cold. Reactivity worth of gadolinium poison pins and hafnium or B{sub 4}C control blades are predicted by APOLLO2 calculation within 2% accuracy. Furthermore, the radial power map is well predicted for every core configuration, including Void configuration and Hf / B{sub 4}C configurations: fission rates in the central assembly are calculated within the {+-}2% experimental uncertainty for the reference cores. The C/E bias on the isothermal Moderator Temperature Coefficient, using the CEA2005 library based on JEFF3.1 file, amounts to -1.7{+-}03 pcm/ deg. C on the range 10 deg. C-80 deg. C. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22039738
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
A CODES
ACCURACY
BORON CARBIDES
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CALCULATION METHODS
CEA
CONTROL ELEMENTS
FISSION
GADOLINIUM
HAFNIUM
NEUTRON TRANSPORT THEORY
NUCLEAR DATA COLLECTIONS
REACTIVITY WORTHS
REACTOR CORES
SELF-SHIELDING
TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT