Coupled neutronic-thermal-hydraulic simulations of the European SFR core
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Engineering Research Building, 1500 Engineering Drive, WI, 53706 (United States)
- Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Technologicas - CIEMAT, Av. Complutense, 40, 28040 Madrid (Spain)
- Paul Scherrer Institute - PSI, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232 Villigen PSI (Switzerland)
- Jacobs, Kings Point House, Queen Mother Square, Poundbury, Dorchester, DT1 3BW (United Kingdom)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendor (HZDR), Bautzner Landstrasse 400, D-01328 Dresden (Germany)
Within the European SFR (Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor) - Safety Measures Assessment and Research Tools (ESFR-SMART) project, steady-state coupled simulation of the ESFR core has been performed using several core analysis packages, with the objective of quantifying the coupling effect. Focus is on the fuel Doppler effect and coolant expansion effect. Standalone neutronics calculations in TRACE/PARCS (PSI), DYN3D (HZDR) and WIMS (Jacobs) showed superb agreement with the reference Serpent power distribution (root mean square - rms discrepancies of 1.3%, 1.5% and 0.7% respectively). Results for COUNTHER (CIEMAT) were also in reasonable agreement, but with a somewhat higher discrepancy of 3.7%. Temperature distributions from thermal-hydraulic calculations were also compared and are found to be in good agreement. The effect of Doppler and coolant density feedback on core power distribution was predicted by TRACE/PARCS, DYN3D and WIMS to be between 0.4% and 0.8% rms difference in assembly powers. Reactivity coefficients for perturbations in the inlet temperature, flow rate and core power were shown to be negative for these three codes, with values of roughly -0.5 pcm/C. degree, -0.3 pcm/C. degree and -3.5 pcm/C. degree respectively. A preliminary investigation of differential thermal expansion effects indicates that this may have a significant effect on core power distribution of a few %, greater than anticipated a priori and may warrant inclusion in coupled core analysis to ensure the accurate calculation of power distributions. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society - ANS, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23178728
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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