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Title: A study of reactivity biases and their dependence on spatial discretization in depleted TRIGA fuel

Journal Article · · Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford)
 [1];  [1]
  1. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Dept. of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
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The impact of spatial discretization on reactivity biases in TRIGA fuel models was analyzed here. In particular, unit-cell analyses in 2-D and 3-D were performed using Serpent to understand how spatial discretization affects the accuracy with which the effects of material evolution and temperature feedback are resolved. For temperature-dependent cases, a simple, single-channel model was employed. Analysis of 2-D models showed that essentially no radial discretization resolution is needed to eliminate biases (i.e., to reduce biases to the level of stochastic uncertainties) due to material evolution but that more than eight, equal-area, radial regions are needed to resolve temperature-feedback effects. Analysis of 3-D models showed that at least seven, equal-volume, axial regions may be required to resolve material evolution with temperature feedback leading to insignificant additional bias. Because of memory constraints, a full-core model with radially- and axially-resolved fuel elements may be impractical, especially for production-level analyses. Consequently, an “effective Doppler temperature” was determined empirically as a function of the radially-averaged temperature and may be used for future, full-core analyses.

Research Organization:
Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
NE0008408; NRC-HQ-60-15-G-0004
OSTI ID:
1494564
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1416029
Journal Information:
Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford), Vol. 108; ISSN 0306-4549
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 1 work
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables (12)

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Table 1(p. 5)table Table 1
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Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
reactivity bias
TRIGA
fuel depletion
temperature feedback
effective temperature