VERA benchmarking results for watts bar nuclear plant unit 1 cycles 1-12

Andrew Godfrey, Benjamin Collins, Kang Seog Kim, Jeffrey Powers, Robert Salko, Shane Stimpson, William Wieselquist, Kevin Clarno, Jess Gehin, Scott Palmtag, Robert Montgomery, Rosemary Montgomery, Daniel Jabaay, Brendan Kochunas, Thomas Downar, Nathan Capps, Jeffrey Secker

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

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, the first US DOE Energy Innovation Hub, is developing and deploying a suite of directly coupled, high-fidelity physics methods known as VERA for performing engineering analyses of operating commercial nuclear power reactors. The centerpiece of VERA is the reactor core simulator, which employs the direct coupling of a 3D neutron transport code, a two-phase sub-channel thermal-hydraulic code, and a well-known isotopic depletion and decay code. Together these tools represent the most rigorous reactor simulator available today. Recently added capabilities include the depletion, shuffling, and discharge of fuel assemblies, enabling VERA to simulate multiple fuel cycles of operation. To demonstrate this capability, VERA has been used to simulate over 18 years of operation of TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 1, and the results of these calculations have been used to quantify its performance in an industry-grade benchmarking activity. Comparisons are made with measured critical boron concentrations, control bank reactivity worths, isothermal temperature coefficients, and in-core neutron flux distributions. These results demonstrate that the advanced tools in VERA are capable for application to practical and common industrial problems.

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
Pages3983-3997
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)9781510825734
StatePublished - 2016
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
Volume6

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

Keywords

  • CASL
  • CTF
  • MPACT
  • ORIGEN
  • VERA
  • Watts bar

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