Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Development of a general framework of resonance self-shielding treatment for broad-spectrum reactor lattice physics calculation

  • Jinchao Zhang (Fundamental Science on Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology Laboratory, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Qian Zhang (Laboratory for Advanced Nuclear Energy Theory and Applications, Zhejiang Institute of Modern Physics, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University) ;
  • Hang Zou (Science and Technology on Parallel and Distributed Processing Laboratory, National University of Defense Technology) ;
  • Jialei Yu (Fundamental Science on Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology Laboratory, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Wei Cao (Laboratory for Advanced Nuclear Energy Theory and Applications, Zhejiang Institute of Modern Physics, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University) ;
  • Shifu Wu (Fundamental Science on Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology Laboratory, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Shuai Qin (Laboratory for Advanced Nuclear Energy Theory and Applications, Zhejiang Institute of Modern Physics, Department of Physics, Zhejiang University) ;
  • Qiang Zhao (Fundamental Science on Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology Laboratory, Harbin Engineering University) ;
  • Erez Gilad (The Unit of Nuclear Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
  • Received : 2024.01.24
  • Accepted : 2024.05.29
  • Published : 2024.10.25
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Abstract

Some core designs integrate high-enriched fuel and moderator materials to enhance neutron utilization. This combination results in a broad spectrum within the system, posing challenges in resonance calculation. This paper introduces a general framework to realize resonance self-shielding treatment in broad-spectrum fuel lattice problems. The framework consists of three components. First, a new energy group structure is devised to support resonance calculation in the entire energy range and capture spectral transition and thermalization effects during eigenvalue calculation. Second, the subgroup method based on narrow approximation is selected as a universal method to perform resonance calculation. Finally, transport equations for each fissionable region are solved for neutron flux to collapse the fission spectrum. The proposed method is verified against fast, intermediate, and thermal spectrum pin cell problems and an assembly problem featuring a fast-thermal coupled spectrum. Numerical results affirm the accuracy of the proposed method in handling these scenarios, with eigenvalue errors below 154 pcm for pin cell problems and 106 pcm for the assembly problem. The verification results revealed that the proposed method enables accurate resonance self-shielding treatment for broad-spectrum problems.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant [12105063], the project of Young Talents of China National Nuclear Corporation and the Science and Technology on Reactor System Design Technology Laboratory grant [K909002-05-FWHT-WU-20234160].

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