Radio-species transport model for coupled fluid dynamics-neutron activation calculations

Carrero, Carlos Moreno; Cau, Francesca; Pampin, R.

doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2022.113171

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…where V is the coolant volume and Q the volumetric flow rate, and several computational techniques best suited for complex geometries [4,22]. The transit time inside the PHTS components characterized by simple geometries can be evaluated with by-hand calculations, i.e.…”

Section: Description Of the Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The water activation product concentrations are considered passive scalars and their transport in the coolant loop is a coupled neutronic/fluiddynamic problem since the source terms of the leading equations have a nuclear nature [2]. Such a problem is very computationally demanding, as it requires the proper balance between accuracy and reasonable computation time and in recent years it has also attracted increasing interest in the field of nuclear fusion [2][3][4][5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Water activation products generation and transport in DEMO divertor

Chiovaro,

Quartararo,

Avona

et al. 2024

Nucl. Fusion

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In water-cooled nuclear reactors, the issue of neutron-activated products transport along the Primary Heat Transfer System (PHTS) is very demanding, as it is a coupled neutronic / fluid-dynamic problem requiring a challenging balance between accuracy and reasonable computational time. This work addresses the transport of water activation products in large hydraulic circuits. Regarding the nuclear calculations, the assessment of the production rates of the radioisotope concentrations has been performed by Monte Carlo analyses adopting the MCNP5.1.6 code, while forthe transportation calculations, an innovative method has been expressly developed. It foresees a one-dimensional nodalization, in a MATLAB-Simulink environment, of the hydraulic circuit considered with a Computational Fluid-Dynamic (CFD) characterization (by ANSYS CFX code) of the nodes under neutron flux, that is the components where radioisotopes are formed, and the highest gradients of concentration are present. The method was compared with one-dimensional models not supported by fluid-dynamic analysis. The results of this comparison showed that in cases involving fairly complicated geometries and radioisotopes with a small half-life, CFD analyses are necessary to achieve adequate accuracy. The procedure was applied to very large and rather complex hydraulic circuits like the divertor PHTSs of DEMO fusion reactor to obtain the concentrations of the activation products of the water constituents (16N, 17N, 19O, 14C, 41Ar) along such systems.

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Section: Description Of the Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%