Validation of keff Calculations for Extended BWR Burnup Credit

William J. Marshall, Justin B. Clarity, Stephen M. Bowman

Research output: Book/ReportCommissioned report

Abstract

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and consensus standards recommend validation of the numerical methods used in criticality safety analyses. This validation requires the comparison of computational results with measurements of physical systems which are neutronically similar to those used in the safety analysis being performed. To this end, this document examines the methods available to generate sensitivity data to help identify systems similar to spent boiling- water reactor (BWR) fuel in a flooded spent nuclear fuel transportation or storage cask. A large number of critical benchmark experiments are surveyed using sensitivity/uncertainty (S/U) techniques to assess their applicability to BWR burnup credit (BUC) beyond the burnup of peak reactivity. Multiple burnups of BWR assemblies are considered herein, as well as the actinide-only (AO) and actinide-and-major-fission-product (AFP) isotope sets. Sample validations are completed for representative application models to demonstrate that appropriate validation is possible and to indicate the bias and bias uncertainty values expected for related applications.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationUnited States
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018

Keywords

  • 12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES

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