Benchmark evaluation of zero-power critical parameters for the Temelin VVER nuclear reactor using SERPENT & NESTLE and MCNP

Ondrej Novak; Lubomir Sklenka; Ondrej Huml; Jan Frybort; Ondrej Chvala; Nicholas P. Luciano; G. Ivan Maldonado

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110243

Benchmark evaluation of zero-power critical parameters for the Temelin VVER nuclear reactor using SERPENT & NESTLE and MCNP

Ondrej Novak, Lubomir Sklenka, Ondrej Huml, Jan Frybort, Ondrej Chvala, Nicholas P. Luciano, G. Ivan Maldonado

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article presents a benchmark study of a VVER 1000 core simulation of hot zero power (HZP) tests. Measured experimental data from the Temelin Unit 2 nuclear power plant's operation test during its first reactor startup were compared using MCNP as well as the combination of Serpent + NESTLE lattice-to-diffusion nodal simulation. Results from full-core 3D models included multiplication factor and moderator temperature coefficients (MTC) that were compared to experimental data, which revealed a very good agreement with criticality states during HZP tests, and a reasonable agreement for MTC. Therefore, it is concluded that the Serpent-NESTLE combination and MCNP, both, provided reasonable results for this benchmark. The Serpent-NESTLE code combination was used for the first time in this study and has shown to be capable of providing high quality simulations in an efficient fashion. To encourage future benchmarks by other researchers, this article makes a special effort to document the core design information and details that would facilitate such efforts.

Original language	English
Article number	110243
Journal	Nuclear Engineering and Design
Volume	353
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110243
State	Published - Nov 2019
Externally published	Yes

Funding

Support from IAEA fellowship number C6/CZR/14007 was used in this work. Valuable NPP data were provided by the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant, department of reactor physics. The research leading to this article was supported by the project “Strengthening and development of research at Czech Technical University in Prague with the use of research infrastructure VR-1 Training Reactor for research activities” (reg. nr. CZ.02.1.010.00.016_0130001790) supported by Operational Programme Research, Development and Education co-financed from European Structural and Investment Funds and from state budget of the Czech Republic.

Funders	Funder number
International Atomic Energy Agency	C6/CZR/14007, CZ.02.1.010.00.016_0130001790

Keywords

NESTLE
Serpent
VVER
Zero power criticality

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10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110243

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title = "Benchmark evaluation of zero-power critical parameters for the Temelin VVER nuclear reactor using SERPENT & NESTLE and MCNP",

abstract = "This article presents a benchmark study of a VVER 1000 core simulation of hot zero power (HZP) tests. Measured experimental data from the Temelin Unit 2 nuclear power plant's operation test during its first reactor startup were compared using MCNP as well as the combination of Serpent + NESTLE lattice-to-diffusion nodal simulation. Results from full-core 3D models included multiplication factor and moderator temperature coefficients (MTC) that were compared to experimental data, which revealed a very good agreement with criticality states during HZP tests, and a reasonable agreement for MTC. Therefore, it is concluded that the Serpent-NESTLE combination and MCNP, both, provided reasonable results for this benchmark. The Serpent-NESTLE code combination was used for the first time in this study and has shown to be capable of providing high quality simulations in an efficient fashion. To encourage future benchmarks by other researchers, this article makes a special effort to document the core design information and details that would facilitate such efforts.",

keywords = "NESTLE, Serpent, VVER, Zero power criticality",

author = "Ondrej Novak and Lubomir Sklenka and Ondrej Huml and Jan Frybort and Ondrej Chvala and Luciano, {Nicholas P.} and Maldonado, {G. Ivan}",

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AU - Sklenka, Lubomir

AU - Huml, Ondrej

AU - Frybort, Jan

AU - Chvala, Ondrej

AU - Luciano, Nicholas P.

AU - Maldonado, G. Ivan

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N2 - This article presents a benchmark study of a VVER 1000 core simulation of hot zero power (HZP) tests. Measured experimental data from the Temelin Unit 2 nuclear power plant's operation test during its first reactor startup were compared using MCNP as well as the combination of Serpent + NESTLE lattice-to-diffusion nodal simulation. Results from full-core 3D models included multiplication factor and moderator temperature coefficients (MTC) that were compared to experimental data, which revealed a very good agreement with criticality states during HZP tests, and a reasonable agreement for MTC. Therefore, it is concluded that the Serpent-NESTLE combination and MCNP, both, provided reasonable results for this benchmark. The Serpent-NESTLE code combination was used for the first time in this study and has shown to be capable of providing high quality simulations in an efficient fashion. To encourage future benchmarks by other researchers, this article makes a special effort to document the core design information and details that would facilitate such efforts.

AB - This article presents a benchmark study of a VVER 1000 core simulation of hot zero power (HZP) tests. Measured experimental data from the Temelin Unit 2 nuclear power plant's operation test during its first reactor startup were compared using MCNP as well as the combination of Serpent + NESTLE lattice-to-diffusion nodal simulation. Results from full-core 3D models included multiplication factor and moderator temperature coefficients (MTC) that were compared to experimental data, which revealed a very good agreement with criticality states during HZP tests, and a reasonable agreement for MTC. Therefore, it is concluded that the Serpent-NESTLE combination and MCNP, both, provided reasonable results for this benchmark. The Serpent-NESTLE code combination was used for the first time in this study and has shown to be capable of providing high quality simulations in an efficient fashion. To encourage future benchmarks by other researchers, this article makes a special effort to document the core design information and details that would facilitate such efforts.

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Benchmark evaluation of zero-power critical parameters for the Temelin VVER nuclear reactor using SERPENT & NESTLE and MCNP

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Keywords

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