Quantification of the SCALE 6.1 eigenvalue uncertainty due to cross section uncertainties for exercise 1-1 of the IAEA CRP on HTGR uncertainties

V. V. Naicker, D. A. Maretele, F. Reitsma, F. Bostelmann, G. Strydom

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on the HTGR Uncertainty Analysis in Modelling was launched in 2012 to study uncertainty propagation specifically in the HTGR analysis chain. The scope of the benchmark is to establish a well-defined set of problems to compare methods and tools in core simulation and thermal hydraulics analysis with a specific focus on uncertainty analysis and the propagation of these uncertainties through the different phases of the analysis. Both the prismatic and pebble bed designs of HTGRs are considered in the CRP but the focus in this paper is only on the prismatic block design, being represented by the MHTGR-350 test problem. The CRP is divided into a number of exercises. This paper reports the results of the first exercise, i.e. the uncertainty analysis of the multiplication factor based on the single cell. The single cell consists of the fuel compact and its graphite environment in the fuel block. The fuel compact in turn consists of TRISO particles embedded in a graphite matrix. Nominal models for the Monte Carlo code KENO-VI and the dis-crete-ordinate code NEWT of the SCALE 6.1 code package were built. Before propagating the uncertainties of nuclear data to uncertainties of output quantities, the basic models of KENO-VI and NEWT were studied for both convergence and computation time optimization. The uncertainties in the eigenvalue kx of the homogenized fuel compact were calculated using the SCALE modules TSUNAMI-2D and TSUNAMI-3D together with the top contributions to the uncertainty in kx by individual covariance matrices.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPhysics of Reactors 2016, PHYSOR 2016
Subtitle of host publicationUnifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century
PublisherAmerican Nuclear Society
Pages2358-2370
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781510825734
StatePublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
EventPhysics of Reactors 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century, PHYSOR 2016 - Sun Valley, United States
Duration: May 1 2016May 5 2016

Publication series

NamePhysics of Reactors 2016, PHYSOR 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century
Volume4

Conference

ConferencePhysics of Reactors 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century, PHYSOR 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySun Valley
Period05/1/1605/5/16

Funding

The NWU work is based upon research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation, and also partially funded by the IAEA under Research Contract No 18703/RO. The GRS part of this work was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The INL contribution was prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy (Office of Nuclear Energy) under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DE-AC07-05ID14517.

FundersFunder number
German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
U.S. Department of EnergyDE-AC07-05ID14517
National Research Foundation
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
International Atomic Energy Agency18703/RO

    Keywords

    • Convergence
    • HTGR
    • Optimization
    • Uncertainty quantification

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