SCALE inventory and reactivity analysis as part of the Hermes 2021 PSAR review

Friederike Bostelmann; Benjamin R. Betzler; Donny Hartanto; William A. Wieselquist

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2024.111063

SCALE inventory and reactivity analysis as part of the Hermes 2021 PSAR review

Friederike Bostelmann, Benjamin R. Betzler, Donny Hartanto, William A. Wieselquist

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

Abstract

The readiness of SCALE for comprehensive studies of pebble-bed reactors has been demonstrated through detailed analysis of a fluoride salt–cooled, high-temperature pebble-bed reactor (PB-FHR). The methods developed for pebble-bed reactor modeling in SCALE, particularly for inventory generation, have proven effective in gaining insights into the reactor physics of this advanced reactor. Excellent agreement with another code package has been observed, further highlighting SCALE's strong performance. The SCALE results supported the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's construction permit application review of the Hermes low-power PB-FHR demonstration reactor. A SCALE model of the Hermes reactor was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory using information from the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) and supplemented with publicly available data. SCALE reactivity coefficient simulations reproduced PSAR results within 1σ statistical uncertainties. Sensitivity studies emphasized the importance of graphite specifications for accurate k_eff predictions.

Original language	English
Article number	111063
Journal	Annals of Nuclear Energy
Volume	212
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2024.111063
State	Published - Mar 2025

Funding

This work was funded by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The authors wish to thank the MELCOR team, specifically Kenneth C. Wagner, for the great communication and efficient data transfer between the SCALE and MELCOR teams. Yves Robert's support for the generation of the DEM pebble distribution and Cihangir Celik's support for the generation of the stochastic TRISO particle distribution is much appreciated. 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 work for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the submitted manuscript version of this work, 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 ( https://energy.gov/doe-public-access-plan ).

Keywords

Equilibrium core
FHR
Inventory generation
Pebble-bed reactor
SCALE

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10.1016/j.anucene.2024.111063

Cite this

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title = "SCALE inventory and reactivity analysis as part of the Hermes 2021 PSAR review",

abstract = "The readiness of SCALE for comprehensive studies of pebble-bed reactors has been demonstrated through detailed analysis of a fluoride salt–cooled, high-temperature pebble-bed reactor (PB-FHR). The methods developed for pebble-bed reactor modeling in SCALE, particularly for inventory generation, have proven effective in gaining insights into the reactor physics of this advanced reactor. Excellent agreement with another code package has been observed, further highlighting SCALE's strong performance. The SCALE results supported the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's construction permit application review of the Hermes low-power PB-FHR demonstration reactor. A SCALE model of the Hermes reactor was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory using information from the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) and supplemented with publicly available data. SCALE reactivity coefficient simulations reproduced PSAR results within 1σ statistical uncertainties. Sensitivity studies emphasized the importance of graphite specifications for accurate keff predictions.",

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SCALE inventory and reactivity analysis as part of the Hermes 2021 PSAR review

Abstract

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Keywords

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