On the simulation of neutron noise induced by vibrations of fuel pins in a fuel assembly
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023

Vibrations of fuel assemblies are an important issue in the safe operation of nuclear reactors, because they can challenge the integrity of the fuel with potential for radioactive releases. Reactor neutron noise-based techniques for monitoring vibrations are valuable for core diagnostic since they are not intrusive and make use of ordinary neutron flux measurements from ex-core and in-core detectors. The application of these techniques involves the solution of inverse problems that require numerical simulations capable of estimating the reactor neutron noise, given a model of the vibrations. For this purpose, several novel reactor neutron noise solvers have been developed in the CORTEX project using either Monte Carlo or deterministic methods, such as the discrete ordinates method, the method of characteristics, and the diffusion approximation. In the current work, these solvers have been scrutinized by computing the neutron noise induced by vibrations of one or multiple fuel pins in a simplified UOX fuel assembly benchmark, via proper variations of macroscopic neutron cross sections. The comparison of these neutron noise solutions obtained from the different methods shows novel insights into the simulation of neutron noise induced by mechanical vibrations, such as the challenges posed by the Monte Carlo method, the impact of the angular discretization on the application of the discrete ordinates method, and the accuracy of the diffusion approximation assessed via the higher-order neutron transport methods.

Monte Carlo

Reactor neutron noise modelling

Deterministic transport methods

Diffusion

Författare

Paolo Vinai

Chalmers, Fysik, Subatomär, högenergi- och plasmafysik

Huaiqian Yi

Chalmers, Fysik, Subatomär, högenergi- och plasmafysik

Christophe Demaziere

Chalmers, Fysik, Subatomär, högenergi- och plasmafysik

Amélie Rouchon

Université Paris-Saclay

Andrea Zoia

Université Paris-Saclay

Antoni Vidal-Ferràndiz

Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV)

Amanda Carreño

Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV)

Damian Ginestar

Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV)

Gumersindo Verdu

Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV)

Annals of Nuclear Energy

0306-4549 (ISSN) 1873-2100 (eISSN)

Vol. 181 109521

Core monitoring techniques and experimental validation and demonstration (CORTEX)

Europeiska kommissionen (EU) (EC/H2020/754316), 2017-09-01 -- 2021-08-31.

Ämneskategorier

Energiteknik

Annan fysik

Styrkeområden

Energi

DOI

10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109521

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2022-12-01