Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8

The so-called “Control Blade History” (CBH) effect has always posed a serious challenge for any nodal core simulator in performing Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) core analyses. In this paper a method to handle such CBH effects is proposed based on the idea of interpolating lattice physics data between...

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Main Author: Petri Forslund Guimaraes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Brazilian Radiation Protection Society (Sociedade Brasileira de Proteção Radiológica, SBPR) 2019-07-01
Series:Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://bjrs.org.br/revista/index.php/REVISTA/article/view/841
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author Petri Forslund Guimaraes
author_facet Petri Forslund Guimaraes
author_sort Petri Forslund Guimaraes
collection DOAJ
description The so-called “Control Blade History” (CBH) effect has always posed a serious challenge for any nodal core simulator in performing Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) core analyses. In this paper a method to handle such CBH effects is proposed based on the idea of interpolating lattice physics data between two extreme cases with regard to CBH, namely, the case with the control rod always inserted during depletion and the case with the control rod never inserted during fuel irradiation. In POLCA8, the latest upgrade of the Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA, one applies the methodology to macroscopic cross sections, discontinuity factors, pin powers and detector constants. Overall, the proposed CBH model performs very well in terms of predictive accuracy of reactivity and pin powers although simultaneous presence of control rods (CRs) and burnable absorbers (BAs) still poses a challenge due to some observed interference of their impact on reactivity. Applying the CBH model for pin power reconstruction is particularly promising and provides excellent prediction accuracy in the vicinity of the CR and at the point of CR withdrawal being the most challenging and critical condition with regard to CBH.
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spelling doaj.art-96f574cd48714b1a87e6fbf0d8dcd7a22022-12-22T04:37:06ZengBrazilian Radiation Protection Society (Sociedade Brasileira de Proteção Radiológica, SBPR)Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences2319-06122019-07-0173A10.15392/bjrs.v7i3A.841Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8Petri Forslund Guimaraes0Westinghouse Electric Sweden ABThe so-called “Control Blade History” (CBH) effect has always posed a serious challenge for any nodal core simulator in performing Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) core analyses. In this paper a method to handle such CBH effects is proposed based on the idea of interpolating lattice physics data between two extreme cases with regard to CBH, namely, the case with the control rod always inserted during depletion and the case with the control rod never inserted during fuel irradiation. In POLCA8, the latest upgrade of the Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA, one applies the methodology to macroscopic cross sections, discontinuity factors, pin powers and detector constants. Overall, the proposed CBH model performs very well in terms of predictive accuracy of reactivity and pin powers although simultaneous presence of control rods (CRs) and burnable absorbers (BAs) still poses a challenge due to some observed interference of their impact on reactivity. Applying the CBH model for pin power reconstruction is particularly promising and provides excellent prediction accuracy in the vicinity of the CR and at the point of CR withdrawal being the most challenging and critical condition with regard to CBH.https://bjrs.org.br/revista/index.php/REVISTA/article/view/841BWR nodal core analysiscontrol blade historynodal cross section modelspin power reconstruction.
spellingShingle Petri Forslund Guimaraes
Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8
Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences
BWR nodal core analysis
control blade history
nodal cross section models
pin power reconstruction.
title Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8
title_full Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8
title_fullStr Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8
title_full_unstemmed Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8
title_short Control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with Westinghouse BWR nodal core simulator POLCA8
title_sort control blade history reactivity and pin power effects evaluated with westinghouse bwr nodal core simulator polca8
topic BWR nodal core analysis
control blade history
nodal cross section models
pin power reconstruction.
url https://bjrs.org.br/revista/index.php/REVISTA/article/view/841
work_keys_str_mv AT petriforslundguimaraes controlbladehistoryreactivityandpinpowereffectsevaluatedwithwestinghousebwrnodalcoresimulatorpolca8