G. Ivan Maldonado

Neutronics Studies of Uranium-Bearing Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated Fuel for Pressurized Water Reactors

Abstract This study evaluated the neutronics and some of the fuel cycle characteristics of using uranium-based fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel in a pressurized water reactor (PWR). Specific PWR lattice designs with FCM fuel have been developed that are expected to achieve higher specific burnup levels in the fuel while also increasing the tolerance to reactor accidents. The SCALE software system was the primary analysis tool used to model the lattice designs. A parametric study was performed by varying tristructural isotropic particle design features (e.g., kernel diameter, coating layer thicknesses, and packing fraction) to understand the impact on reactivity and resulting operating cycle length. To match the lifetime of an 18-month PWR cycle, the FCM particle fuel design required roughly 10% additional fissile material at beginning of life compared with that of a standard uranium dioxide (UO2) rod. Uranium mononitride proved to be a favorable fuel for the fuel kernel due to its higher heavy metal loading density compared with UO2. The FCM fuel designs evaluated maintain acceptable neutronics design features for fuel lifetime, lattice peaking factors, and nonproliferation figure of merit.

Neutronic Evaluation of a Liquid Salt–Cooled Reactor Assembly

Abstract This study presents a thorough parametric neutronic analysis of a plate-based tristructual isotropic (TRISO) fuel particle bearing liquid salt–cooled reactor assembly. The analyses presented investigated the effects of altering fuel enrichment, packing fraction, plate region thicknesses, assembly structure thicknesses, assembly size, numbers of plates per assembly, use of burnable poison materials, replacement of assembly and plate carbon material with silicon carbide, and use of uranium nitride fuel kernels. The effects or trends observed included reactivity behavior, discharge burnup, cycle length, and other key design parameters such as moderator temperature coefficients, coolant density coefficients, control blade worth, and impacts upon power peaking (i.e., power and flux distributions). This study is based upon two-dimensional lattice physics calculations involving the SERPENT 2 code and by using the nonlinear reactivity model as a reasonable tool for predicting discharge burnup. The reported results show that the system’s reactivity can be significantly altered by varying these design parameters, thus providing a starting point for future design optimization studies, and it is understood that future studies will need to be expanded to equilibrium full core analysis for more complete and accurate design and safety assessments, which is also a work in progress.

Neural Network and Perturbation Theory Hybrid Models for Eigenvalue Prediction

Although artificial neural networks (ANNs) are powerful tools in terms of their high posttraining computational speed and their flexibility to construct complex nonlinear mappings from relatively few known data samples, a survey of past applications ofANNs to the area of core parameter prediction reveals drawbacks such as low prediction accuracy, lack of robust generalization, large network dimensionality, and typically high training requirements. This study provides a brief survey of past and recent applications ofANNs to direct core parameter predictions as well as an alternate hybrid approach that avoids the aforementioned shortcomings of ANNs by combining the mathematical rigor of generalized perturbation theory along with the strong qualities of ANNs in error prediction situations. The results presented focus exclusively on the neutron diffusion s fundamental mode eigenvalue (i.e., l/k eff ) and demonstrate the viability of computationally inexpensive adaptive ANN error controllers for perturbation theory applications.

Validating MCNP for LEU Fuel Design via Power Distribution Comparisons

The mission of the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) Program is to minimize and, to the extent possible, eliminate the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in civilian nuclear applications by working to convert research and test reactors, as well as radioisotope production processes, to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel and targets. Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) is reviewing the design bases and key operating criteria including fuel operating parameters, enrichment-related safety analyses, fuel performance, and fuel fabrication in regard to converting the fuel of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) from HEU to LEU. The purpose of this study is to validate Monte Carlo methods currently in use for conversion analyses. The methods have been validated for the prediction of flux values in the reactor target, reflector, and beam tubes, but this study focuses on the prediction of the power density profile in the core. A current 3-D Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) model was modified to replicate the HFIR Critical Experiment 3 (HFIRCE-3) core of 1965. In this experiment, the power profile was determined by counting the gamma activity at selected locations in the core. Foils (chunks of fuel meat and clad) were punched out of the fuel elements in HFIRCE-3 following irradiation and experimental relative power densities were obtained by measuring the activity of these foils and comparing each foil s activity to the activity of a normalizing foil. The current work consisted of calculating corresponding activities by inserting volume tallies into the modified MCNP model to represent the punchings. The average fission density was calculated for each foil location and then normalized to the normalizing foil. Power distributions were obtained for the clean core (no poison in moderator and symmetrical rod position at 17.5 inches) and fully poisoned-moderator (1.35 g B/liter in moderator and rods fully withdrawn) conditions. The observed deviations between the experimental and calculated values for both conditions were within the reported experimental uncertainties except for some of the foils located on the top and bottom edges of the fuel plates.

Nuclear Transmutations in HFIR's Beryllium Reflector and Their Impact on Reactor Operation and Reflector Disposal

Abstract The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory utilizes a large annular beryllium reflector that is subdivided into three concentric regions and encompasses the compact reactor core. Nuclear transmutations caused by neutron activation occur in the beryllium reflector regions, which leads to unwanted neutron-absorbing and radiation-emitting isotopes. During the past year, two topics related to the HFIR beryllium reflector were reviewed. The first topic included studying the neutron poison (3He and 6Li) buildup in the reflector regions and its effect on beginning-of-cycle reactivity. A new methodology was developed to predict the reactivity impact and estimated symmetrical critical control element positions as a function of outage time between cycles due to 3He buildup and was shown to be in better agreement with actual symmetrical critical control element position data than the current methodology. The second topic included studying the composition of the beryllium reflector regions at discharge and during postdischarge decay to assess the viability of transporting, storing, and ultimately disposing of the reflector regions currently stored in the spent-fuel pool. The postirradiation curie inventories were used to determine whether, for disposal purposes, the reflector regions are discharged as transuranic (TRU) waste or become TRU waste during the decay period and to determine the nuclear hazard category, which may affect the controls invoked for transportation and temporary storage. Two of the reflector regions were determined to be TRU waste at discharge, and the other region was determined to become TRU waste <2 yr after being discharged due to irradiation of the initial uranium impurity content (0.0044 wt% uranium). It was also concluded that all three of the reflector regions could be classified as nuclear hazard category 3 (potential for localized consequences only).

Neutronic Analysis of an Advanced Fuel Design Concept for the High Flux Isotope Reactor

Abstract This study presents the neutronic analysis of an advanced fuel design concept for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) that could significantly extend the current fuel cycle length under the existing design and safety criteria. A key advantage of the fuel design herein proposed is that it would not require structural changes to the present HFIR core, in other words, maintaining the same rated power and fuel geometry (i.e., fuel plate thickness and coolant channel dimensions). Of particular practical importance, as well, is the fact that the proposed change could be justified within the bounds of the existing nuclear safety basis. The simulations herein reported employed transport theory–based and exposure-dependent eigenvalue characterization to help improve the prediction of key fuel cycle parameters. These parameters were estimated by coupling a benchmarked three-dimensional MCNP5 model of the HFIR core to the depletion code ORIGEN via the MONTEBURNS interface. The design of an advanced HFIR core with an improved fuel loading is an idea that evolved from early studies by R. D. Cheverton, formerly of ORNL. This study contrasts a modified and increased core loading of 12 kg of 235U against the current core loading of 9.4 kg. The simulations performed predict a cycle length of 39 days for the proposed fuel design, which represents a 50% increase in the cycle length in response to a 25% increase in fissile loading, with an average fuel burnup increase of ~23%. The results suggest that the excess reactivity can be controlled with the present design and arrangement of control elements throughout the core’s life. Also, the new power distribution is comparable or even improved relative to the current power distribution, displaying lower peak to average fission rate densities across the inner fuel element’s centerline and bottom cells. In fact, the fission rate density in the outer fuel element also decreased at these key locations for the proposed design. Overall, it is estimated that the advanced core design could increase the availability of the HFIR facility by ~50% and generate ~33% more neutrons annually, which is expected to yield sizeable savings during the remaining life of HFIR, currently expected to operate through 2014. This study emphasizes the neutronics evaluation of a new fuel design. Although a number of other performance parameters of the proposed design check favorably against the current design, and most of the core design features remain identical to the reference, it is acknowledged that additional evaluations would be required to fully justify the thermal-hydraulic and thermal-mechanical performance of a new fuel design, including checks for cladding corrosion performance as well as for industrial and economic feasibility.

Reactivity Accountability Attributed to Reflector Poisons in the High Flux Isotope Reactor

The objective of this study is to develop a methodology to predict the reactivity impact as a function of outage time between cycles of 3He, 6Li, and other poisons in the High Flux Isotope Reactor s (HFIR) beryllium reflector. The reactivity worth at startup of the HFIR has been incorrectly predicted in the past after the reactor has been shut-down for long periods of time. The incorrect prediction was postulated to be due to the erroneous calculation of 3He buildup in the beryllium reflector. It is necessary to develop a better estimate of the start-of-cycle symmetric critical control element positions since if the estimated and actual symmetrical critical control element positions differ by more than

Two-Step Procedure for Liquid-Salt-Cooled-Reactor Analysis

1.55 in reactivity (approximately one-half inch in control element startup position), HFIR is to be shutdown and a technical evaluation is performed to resolve the discrepancy prior to restart. 3He is generated and depleted during operation, but during an outage, the depletion of 3He ceases because it is a stable isotope. 3He is born from the radioactive decay of tritium, and thus the concentration of 3He increases during shutdown. SCALE, specifically the TRITON and CSAS5 control modules including the KENO V.A, COUPLE, and ORIGEN functional modules were utilized in this study. An equation relating the down time (td) to the change in symmetric control element position was generated and validated against measurements for approximately 40 HFIR operating cycles. The newly-derived correlation was shown to improve accuracy of predictions for long periods of down time.

Sensitivity Studies and Experimental Evaluation for Optimizing Transcurium Isotope Production

Abstract This paper presents the development of a lattice physics–to–core simulator two-step procedure for the rapid analysis of the Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR). Lattice physics, reflector, and control blade models were developed from which cross-section libraries could be generated for a nodal core simulator. Few-group structures for the core simulator were also generated to account for the neutronic characteristics of AHTR. After developing the AHTR two-step procedure, cross-section libraries were generated using the SERPENT continuous-energy Monte Carlo code. These libraries were then used in the core simulator NESTLE to perform full-core calculations, which were in turn benchmarked against reference SERPENT full-core models. Benchmarking results showed reasonable accuracy of the developed two-step procedure but revealed an inherent inadequacy in the one-dimensional radial reflector model and showed a likely need for a greater number of energy groups than were used in this study.

Report on Reactor Physics Assessment of Candidate Accident Tolerant Fuel Cladding Materials in LWRs

Abstract This work applies to recent initiatives at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to optimize the production of transcurium isotopes in the High Flux Isotope Reactor in such a way as to prolong the use of high-quality heavy curium feedstock. By studying the sensitivity of fission and transmutation reaction rates to the neutron flux energy spectrum, a flux filtering methodology is explored for increasing the fraction of (n,γ) reactions per neutron absorption. Filter materials that preferentially absorb neutrons at energies considered detrimental to optimal transcurium production are identified, and transmutation rates are examined with high-energy resolution. Experimental capsules are irradiated employing filter materials, and the resulting fission and activation products are studied to validate the filtering methodology. Improvement is seen in the production efficiency of heavier curium isotopes in 244Cm and 245Cm targets and potentially in the production of 252Cf from mixed californium targets. Further analysis is recommended to evaluate longer-duration irradiations more representative of typical transcurium production.