Abstract. Fissile dosimeters are commonly used in reactor pressure vessel surveillance programs. In this paper, the photofission contribution is analyzed for in-vessel 237 Np and 238 U fissile dosimeters in French PWR. The aim is to reassess this contribution using recent tools (the TRIPOLI-4 Monte Carlo code) and latest nuclear data (JEFF3.1.1 and ENDF/B-VII nuclear libraries). To be as exhaustive as possible, this study is carried out for different configurations of fissile dosimeters, irradiated inside different kinds of PWR: 900 MWe, 1300 MWe, and 1450 MWe. Calculation of photofission rate in dosimeters does not present a major problem using the TRIPOLI-4 ® Monte Carlo code and the coupled neutron-photon simulation mode. However, preliminary studies were necessary to identify the origin of photons responsible of photofissions in dosimeters in relation to the photofission threshold reaction (around 5 MeV). It appears that the main contribution of high enough energy photons generating photofissions is the neutron inelastic scattering in stainless steel reactor structures. By contrast, 137 Cs activity calculation is not an easy task since photofission yield data are known with high uncertainty.
In this work, we present the first dynamic calculations performed with the Monte Carlo neutron transport code TRIPOLI-4R with thermal-hydraulics feedback. For this purpose, the Monte Carlo code was extended for multi-physics capabilities and coupled to the thermal-hydraulics subchannel code SUBCHANFLOW. As a test case for the verification of transient simulation capabilities, a 3x3-assembly mini-core benchmark based on the TMI-1 reactor is considered with a pin-by-pin description. Two reactivity excursion scenarios initiated by control-rod movement are simulated starting from a critical state and compared to analogous simulations performed using the Serpent 2 Monte-Carlo code. The time evolution of the neutron power, fuel temperature, coolant temperature and coolant density are analysed to assess the multi-physics capabilities of TRIPOLI-4. The stabilizing e_ects of thermal-hydraulics on the neutron power appear to be well taken into account. The computational requirements for massively parallel calculations are also discussed.
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