LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2015.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gunow, Geoffrey Alexander
Other Authors: Kord Smith and Benoit Forget.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97963
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author Gunow, Geoffrey Alexander
author2 Kord Smith and Benoit Forget.
author_facet Kord Smith and Benoit Forget.
Gunow, Geoffrey Alexander
author_sort Gunow, Geoffrey Alexander
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description Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2015.
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spelling mit-1721.1/979632019-04-10T23:30:00Z LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data Light water reactor fuel reactivity depletion verification using two dimensional full core method of characteristics and flux map data Gunow, Geoffrey Alexander Kord Smith and Benoit Forget. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. Nuclear Science and Engineering. Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2015. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-90). Experimental quantification of PWR fuel reactivity burnup decrement biases and uncertainties using in-core flux map data from operating power reactors has previously been conducted employing analytical methods to systematically determine experimental fuel reactivities that best match measured fission rate distributions. This optimal core reactivity distribution that best matches the measured fission rate distribution is assumed to be associated with the true fuel reactivity distribution. Some parties have questioned whether fortuitous cancellation of errors between various approximations inherent in the 3D nodal diffusion core analysis models might have caused reactivity decrement biases and uncertainties to be unrealistically small. In this study, the BEAVRS benchmark is modeled with both 2D, full-core, multi-group transport calculations and 2D and 3D nodal diffusion calculations. The calculated reaction rates are compared with measured in-core detector reaction rates supplied in the benchmark. These models are used in conjunction with analytical methods to obtain fuel reactivity biases and uncertainties. Results demonstrate that fuel batch reactivities inferred from flux map data using full-core transport calculations are nearly identical to those inferred using nodal diffusion calculations. Consequently, nodal methods do not contribute significantly to reactivity decrement biases. Fuel reactivity biases and uncertainties inferred from 3D nodal diffusion calculations remain valid. by Geoffrey Alexander Gunow. S.M. 2015-07-31T19:08:34Z 2015-07-31T19:08:34Z 2015 2015 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97963 913958896 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 90 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Nuclear Science and Engineering.
Gunow, Geoffrey Alexander
LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data
title LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data
title_full LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data
title_fullStr LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data
title_full_unstemmed LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data
title_short LWR fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2D full core MOC and flux map data
title_sort lwr fuel reactivity depletion verification using 2d full core moc and flux map data
topic Nuclear Science and Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97963
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