Power and Neutron Flux Distributions in the Core and Shielding

Cabrillat, J.C.; Martini, Mario

doi:10.13182/nse90-a23755

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Fission and activation foils were installed inside these capsules, after the irradiation tests these detectors were analyzed to determine neutron flux distribution inside and around the core. The core and blanket rate distributions were measured by irradiating these assemblies at 3 MW for two hours [6]. 13 Control rod 13…”

Section: Transversal Irradiation Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the neutronic Superphenix start-up commissioning tests with TRIPOLI4

Garcia

Sciora

Rimpault

2019

Annals of Nuclear Energy

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The Superphénix reactor was a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) developed under a European framework that intended to provide a general design of a commercial power plant. During the start-up of the reactor, six different batches containing dummy assemblies allowed to verify the main safety criteria at zero-power conditions tests at 180°C. The present paper presents a stochastic analysis of two start-up cores by comparing the experimental results with the performed calculations with TRIPOLI-4 and the JEFF 3.1.1 nuclear data evaluations. The main and back-up control rod evaluations, the critical mass, as well as the handling error experiment are examined. In addition, two particular irradiation tests are studied to determine the flux distribution of the core and finally, the assessment of a subcriticality analysis is performed to verify the validity of the former MSM factors. In general, the obtained results show good agreement with the experiment, having a general reactivity bias with the performed calculations, the flux distribution is also in great agreement with the tests with small discrepancies and the MSM evaluation permitted to observe better consistency with experimental data. The obtained results allowed to validate our model and will serve as reference calculation for further research.

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Section: Transversal Irradiation Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the neutronic Superphenix start-up commissioning tests with TRIPOLI4

Garcia

Sciora

Rimpault

2019

Annals of Nuclear Energy

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“…For this reason, the flux distribution was experimentally analyzed in two tests, the Transversal Irradiation 1 (T1) and the Transversal Irradiation 2 (T2) with different rods positions, to obtain the sensitivity to this parameter and its influence on the local peak power. Both tests consisted in loading specific measurement subassemblies in particular positions of the core, as shown in Figure 1 (Cabrillat & Martini, 1990). These measurement assemblies contained a capsule device at its center, in which different detectors could be axially loaded during core operation.…”

Section: Start-up Core: Transversal Irradiation Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flux distribution of the Superphénix start-up core for the validation of neutronic codes

Garcia

Sciora

Kooyman

et al. 2019

Annals of Nuclear Energy

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The Superphénix reactor remains the largest Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor ever built in the world and its legacy is a unique source of information for SFRs. At the Superphénix start-up, a series of tests (Transversal Irradiation tests) were devoted to the core flux distribution with measurements in several subassembly positions located from the core center to its periphery. On the other hand, the recent development of neutronic codes has improved accuracy and it is worthwhile to try reproducing these tests. The APOLLO3 code for instance can treat complex geometries without substantial approximations. The Superphénix radial and axial flux profiles are assessed for two Transversal irradiation tests, with a reference Monte Carlo code (TRIPOLI-4) and two deterministic codes, the ERANOS code and its successor the APOLLO-3 code. In a first time, a numerical validation between codes is done to observe the deterministic code bias on the fission rate by comparing the ERANOS and APOLLO-3 evaluations to the TRIPOLI-4 model. Good agreement is seen between codes, and discrepancies between ERANOS and APOLLO-3 remain limited. However, the use of APOLLO-3 eliminates any potential fission rate bias due to the possible compensating errors at the assembly step calculation. An additional survey on the fission rate variations between the JEFF 3.1.1 and the JEFF 3.2 with the same code shows that minor differences are found for the Transversal irradiation tests. It can be concluded that current computational tools are relevant for predicting core flux distribution.

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