Investigation of rehomogenization in the framework of nodal cross section corrections

M. Gamarino*, D. Tomatis, A. Dall'Osso, D. Lathouwers, J. L. Kloosterman, T. H.J.J. Van Der Hagen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
76 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Few-group cross sections used in nodal calculations derive from standard energy collapsing and spatial homogenization performed during preliminary lattice transport calculations, that implicitly assume an infinite array of identical fuel-assemblies. The infinite-medium neutron flux used for cross section weighting does not account for environmental effects arising in case of heterogeneous configurations, which can lead to considerable leakages out of or into the assembly and thus invalidate the reflective boundary conditions used for the lattice simulation. Core-environment effects can also cause variations, with respect to the infinite-lattice calculation, in the reference cross section distribution used for few-group constant collapsing. These sources of inaccuracy prevent from reproducing with high fidelity the best estimate of the reaction rates and multiplication factor coming from the reference transport global solution. Rehomogenization techniques are therefore needed. The purpose of the present paper, which builds upon previous work done at AREVA in the area of rehomogenization, is to formalize a mathematical model that encompasses the different kinds of homogenization errors. In order to investigate the accuracy of the corresponding cross section corrections, numerical tests of an assembly-configuration sample are presented.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPhysics of Reactors 2016, PHYSOR 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century
PublisherAmerican Nuclear Society
Pages3698-3707
Number of pages10
Volume6
ISBN (Electronic)978-151082573-4
Publication statusPublished - 2016
EventPhysics of Reactors 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century, PHYSOR 2016 - Sun Valley, United States
Duration: 1 May 20165 May 2016

Conference

ConferencePhysics of Reactors 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century, PHYSOR 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySun Valley
Period1/05/165/05/16

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

  • Burn-up
  • Cross section correction
  • Nodal diffusion
  • Spatial and spectral rehomogenization

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