Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors

Brian J. Ade; Nicholas P. Luciano; Andrew J. Conant; Cole A. Gentry; Shane G. Stimpson; Benjamin S. Collins; Kang Seog Kim; Robert Mills

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202124706041

Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors

Brian J. Ade, Nicholas P. Luciano, Andrew J. Conant, Cole A. Gentry, Shane G. Stimpson, Benjamin S. Collins, Kang Seog Kim, Robert Mills

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The MPACT code, jointly developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Michigan, is designed to perform high-fidelity light water reactor (LWR) analysis using whole-core pin-resolved neutron transport calculations on modern parallel-computing hardware. MPACT uses the subgroup method for resonance self-shielding, while the primary neutron transport solver uses a 2D/1D method that is based on the method of characteristics (MoC) for the x-y planes coupled with a 1D diffusion or transport solver in the axial dimension. Additional geometry capabilities are currently being developed in MPACT to support hexagonal-pitched lattices, as well as interstitial geometry (i.e., control rods at the corner of four adjacent pin cells). In this research, the MPACT method is tested on gas-cooled reactors by applying MPACT to full-core MAGNOX reactor test problems. MAGNOX test problems were chosen due to the availability of high-quality reactor design and validation data (available through an ongoing collaboration with the National Nuclear Laboratory in the United Kingdom) and the existence of a relatively complex axial power shape that is expected to challenge the MPACT method. MPACT's convergence for partial- and full-core problems will be tested and verified. MPACT will be compared with high-fidelity continuous-energy Monte Carlo simulations to verify core reactivity, power distributions, and performance of the available cross section data libraries and energy group structures.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	International Conference on Physics of Reactors
Subtitle of host publication	Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
Editors	Marat Margulis, Partrick Blaise
Publisher	EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences
Pages	1266-1274
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Electronic)	9781713827245
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124706041
State	Published - 2020
Event	2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 - Cambridge, United Kingdom Duration: Mar 28 2020 → Apr 2 2020

Publication series

Name	International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
Volume	2020-March

Conference

Conference	2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Cambridge
Period	03/28/20 → 04/2/20

Funding

This work was funded by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (NA-22), within the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Funders	Funder number
DOE Public Access Plan
Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development	NA-22
U.S. Department of Energy
National Nuclear Security Administration

Keywords

Full-core neutron transport
Gas-cooled reactor
MAGNOX

Access to Document

10.1051/epjconf/202124706041

Cite this

Ade, B. J., Luciano, N. P., Conant, A. J., Gentry, C. A., Stimpson, S. G., Collins, B. S., Kim, K. S., & Mills, R. (2020). Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors. In M. Margulis, & P. Blaise (Eds.), International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 (pp. 1266-1274). (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020; Vol. 2020-March). EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences. https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124706041

Ade, Brian J. ; Luciano, Nicholas P. ; Conant, Andrew J. et al. / Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors. International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. editor / Marat Margulis ; Partrick Blaise. EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences, 2020. pp. 1266-1274 (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020).

@inproceedings{1c28cb9dd5d6483f983de185460b95c4,

title = "Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors",

abstract = "The MPACT code, jointly developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Michigan, is designed to perform high-fidelity light water reactor (LWR) analysis using whole-core pin-resolved neutron transport calculations on modern parallel-computing hardware. MPACT uses the subgroup method for resonance self-shielding, while the primary neutron transport solver uses a 2D/1D method that is based on the method of characteristics (MoC) for the x-y planes coupled with a 1D diffusion or transport solver in the axial dimension. Additional geometry capabilities are currently being developed in MPACT to support hexagonal-pitched lattices, as well as interstitial geometry (i.e., control rods at the corner of four adjacent pin cells). In this research, the MPACT method is tested on gas-cooled reactors by applying MPACT to full-core MAGNOX reactor test problems. MAGNOX test problems were chosen due to the availability of high-quality reactor design and validation data (available through an ongoing collaboration with the National Nuclear Laboratory in the United Kingdom) and the existence of a relatively complex axial power shape that is expected to challenge the MPACT method. MPACT's convergence for partial- and full-core problems will be tested and verified. MPACT will be compared with high-fidelity continuous-energy Monte Carlo simulations to verify core reactivity, power distributions, and performance of the available cross section data libraries and energy group structures.",

keywords = "Full-core neutron transport, Gas-cooled reactor, MAGNOX",

author = "Ade, {Brian J.} and Luciano, {Nicholas P.} and Conant, {Andrew J.} and Gentry, {Cole A.} and Stimpson, {Shane G.} and Collins, {Benjamin S.} and Kim, {Kang Seog} and Robert Mills",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).; 2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 ; Conference date: 28-03-2020 Through 02-04-2020",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1051/epjconf/202124706041",

language = "English",

series = "International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020",

publisher = "EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences",

pages = "1266--1274",

editor = "Marat Margulis and Partrick Blaise",

booktitle = "International Conference on Physics of Reactors",

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Ade, BJ, Luciano, NP, Conant, AJ, Gentry, CA, Stimpson, SG, Collins, BS, Kim, KS & Mills, R 2020, Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors. in M Margulis & P Blaise (eds), International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020, vol. 2020-March, EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences, pp. 1266-1274, 2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 03/28/20. https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124706041

Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors. / Ade, Brian J.; Luciano, Nicholas P.; Conant, Andrew J. et al.
International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. ed. / Marat Margulis; Partrick Blaise. EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences, 2020. p. 1266-1274 (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020; Vol. 2020-March).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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AU - Ade, Brian J.

AU - Luciano, Nicholas P.

AU - Conant, Andrew J.

AU - Gentry, Cole A.

AU - Stimpson, Shane G.

AU - Collins, Benjamin S.

AU - Kim, Kang Seog

AU - Mills, Robert

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Y1 - 2020

N2 - The MPACT code, jointly developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Michigan, is designed to perform high-fidelity light water reactor (LWR) analysis using whole-core pin-resolved neutron transport calculations on modern parallel-computing hardware. MPACT uses the subgroup method for resonance self-shielding, while the primary neutron transport solver uses a 2D/1D method that is based on the method of characteristics (MoC) for the x-y planes coupled with a 1D diffusion or transport solver in the axial dimension. Additional geometry capabilities are currently being developed in MPACT to support hexagonal-pitched lattices, as well as interstitial geometry (i.e., control rods at the corner of four adjacent pin cells). In this research, the MPACT method is tested on gas-cooled reactors by applying MPACT to full-core MAGNOX reactor test problems. MAGNOX test problems were chosen due to the availability of high-quality reactor design and validation data (available through an ongoing collaboration with the National Nuclear Laboratory in the United Kingdom) and the existence of a relatively complex axial power shape that is expected to challenge the MPACT method. MPACT's convergence for partial- and full-core problems will be tested and verified. MPACT will be compared with high-fidelity continuous-energy Monte Carlo simulations to verify core reactivity, power distributions, and performance of the available cross section data libraries and energy group structures.

AB - The MPACT code, jointly developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Michigan, is designed to perform high-fidelity light water reactor (LWR) analysis using whole-core pin-resolved neutron transport calculations on modern parallel-computing hardware. MPACT uses the subgroup method for resonance self-shielding, while the primary neutron transport solver uses a 2D/1D method that is based on the method of characteristics (MoC) for the x-y planes coupled with a 1D diffusion or transport solver in the axial dimension. Additional geometry capabilities are currently being developed in MPACT to support hexagonal-pitched lattices, as well as interstitial geometry (i.e., control rods at the corner of four adjacent pin cells). In this research, the MPACT method is tested on gas-cooled reactors by applying MPACT to full-core MAGNOX reactor test problems. MAGNOX test problems were chosen due to the availability of high-quality reactor design and validation data (available through an ongoing collaboration with the National Nuclear Laboratory in the United Kingdom) and the existence of a relatively complex axial power shape that is expected to challenge the MPACT method. MPACT's convergence for partial- and full-core problems will be tested and verified. MPACT will be compared with high-fidelity continuous-energy Monte Carlo simulations to verify core reactivity, power distributions, and performance of the available cross section data libraries and energy group structures.

KW - Full-core neutron transport

KW - Gas-cooled reactor

KW - MAGNOX

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Ade BJ, Luciano NP, Conant AJ, Gentry CA, Stimpson SG, Collins BS et al. Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors. In Margulis M, Blaise P, editors, International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences. 2020. p. 1266-1274. (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020). doi: 10.1051/epjconf/202124706041

Development of MPACT for full-core simulations of MAGNOX gas-cooled nuclear reactors

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Keywords

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