Home
Scholarly Works
Comparison of MCNP and WIMS-AECL / RFSP...
Conference

Comparison of MCNP and WIMS-AECL / RFSP calculations with high temperature substitution experiments in ZED-2 using CANFLEX-LVRF

Abstract

This paper summarizes comparisons of calculation results from MCNP5 and WIMS-AECL / RFSP with experimental results obtained from the Zero Energy Deuterium (ZED-2) critical facility, examining CANFLEX Low Void Reactivity Fuel (CANFLEX-LVRF) in heated channels, substituted into a reference lattice and cooled under ACR-like coolant conditions, with H2O, air, or CO 2 as an air substitute. CANFLEX-LVRF shares features in common with the ACR-1000 fuel, notably an increase in enrichment (over natural uranium) in the outer elements of the fuel bundle, and presence of a neutron absorber in the central element. The reference and substituted fuel channels were arranged in a 24.5-cm hexagonal lattice in order to provide neutron similarity to the 24-cm square lattice pitch of the ACR-1000. These results therefore provide useful data for validation of the reactor physics toolset for use in ACR-1000 applications. For the mixed lattices, results for both MCNP5 and WIMS-AECL / RFSP show small biases in keff, ranging from -7 mk to -5 mk, small biases in coolant void reactivity, ranging from -1 mk to +0.5 mk, and good agreement for copper activation rate distributions (based on calculated neutron flux). Bare core MCNP and WIMS-AECL stand-alone results, based on substitution analysis, also show small biases in keff, ranging from -6 mk to -0.4 mk, and small biases in coolant void reactivity, ranging from -0.3 mk to +3.7 mk. This validation exercise thus gives good agreement between measurement and calculation and provides confidence in the accuracy of the physics toolset.

Authors

Pencer J; Bromley BP; Watts DG; Carlson P; Rauket A; Zeller M

Volume

3

Pagination

pp. 1967-1980

Publication Date

December 1, 2009

Conference proceedings

Canadian Nuclear Society 30th Annual Canadian Nuclear Society Conference and 33rd CNS Cna Student Conference 2009

Contact the Experts team